New Faces

First Sunday run in the New Year and what a cracker it was.

Laurence and I prepared as usual with a quick glass of orange before we left and a glance at the thermometer just to check what clothing was necessary: -7°C. Ran back upstairs and added another top before venturing outside. The shock after leaving the warmth of the house was huge. The cold took your breath away and it was actually a relief to start running to try and get some warmth back through the limbs with the blood circulating fully.

We ran up to the Church, the usual meeting point, before deciding that the cold was excessive and took shelter inside Sophie and Pierre-Henri's kitchen instead. Ralph and Louise arrived and then Philippe so we left the house and we joined by a new face, Fabrice. We had met Fabrice at a prty the night before and soon began to talk about running so we invited him along - must be keen to venture out at sub-zero temperatures. We set off slowly and Paul caught us up, having returned from his Christmas break the previous day, so 9 of us in all.

It was too cold to hang around so we ran the first 5km as a group of 4: Paul, Fabrice, Philippe and myself. Philippe set the pace most of the way at around 4:20 per km before I picked it up and pushed on to 4:15 pace. I got to the barrier in 21:30 which is one of the fastest times ever, thanks mostly to the fast start and consistent pace. I went back to find Laurence and Louise and accompanied them to the barrier, before running the second half of the course with Paul at a more moderate pace.

All up 13.5km in 1:04. Laurence arrived back with her hair all frozen and glistening white with the frost. She could have played the starring role in the Ice Maiden.

Good to see Paul again and to chat about marathon training. This begins in earnest for me at the end of the month, using a 10 week programme aimed at achieving a sub 3 hour performance. This is my main goal for the year, with a sub 1:24:30 for the half and a sub 37 10km race as extras !