Snow trail

No time to run yesterday as I was too tied up at work and then we left in the evening to go on holiday for a week (this is why you won't be able to call us at home bros over the next 10 days).

We are in Aurillac for a few days and as we arrived in the car late last night it was to a wintry scene with a good 15 cm of snow in the fields and 5-10 cm of snow on the roads. I got up this morning and thought about where I would run for 75 minutes for my marathon training today. I settled on heading up the old road to St Simon and then up the hill past this village and onto the mountain bike trail that contours around the valley to Rouffiac before coming back on the main road. I had a rough idea of the mileage but was relying on the Garmin to help me.

I set out slowly to begin with and felt the tiredness in my legs. I put this down to the altitude and the fatigue from the trip. Garmin didn't pick up the satellite reception immediately and missed the first 400m, so first km in 8:02 ! Uphill after so 2nd in 5:12. Afterwards a nice downhill to speed up and then more uphill. I left the road then and followed the trail with some steep uphills and ankle deep in snow. This slowed me down further, completing a kilometre in 7:01. Back down to Rouffiac and finally back onto the main road back to St Simon and Aurillac.

I felt great now, the scenery was fantastic with virgin snow everywhere and the sky was bright blue. The temperature was around 2°C but I'd warmed up nicely and the road was easy compared to the fields and snow before. I stretched out and completed the next kilometres in 4:38, 4:25, 4:22, 4:18, 4:25, 4:12, 4:02, 4:16. I was flying, loving every minute of it and not feeling tired in the slightest. Absolutely fantastic.

Great way to forget the stress and fatigue from work. Vive les vacances!