Snow

Snow had been forecast for this morning. I went out, all wrapped up for the cold, and was slightly disappointed to see that only a light sprinkling of powder lay across the ground. I set off anyway and made a good start down to the Seine in the dark.

The thin layer of snow and the clear sky, had the advantage of making the terrain a lot more visible than usual and I was able to negotiate my path down to the river and avoid the potholes in the process. I had put gloves on this morning and my hands were warm inside, far better than on Tuesday. The speed was good and I felt strong in my legs, turning over at a fast pace, not waiting to get cold in the freezing air.

I kept the pace up until around 4 kilomteres and then I began to slow down naturally. I could feel myself easing off and wondered whether it was worth pushing on, before deciding that I was enjoying myself and that by pushing hard now I wasn't really going to achieve anything extra. I must have been daydreaming at this point as I don't recollect anything particularly significant about this section of the run. There were more people out and about compared to Tuesday, despite it being the same time and similar weather.

As I ran down to the townhall, the snow began to fall more heavily in large snowflakes. I was almost back home now and I made a last little effort up the final slope and stretched along the straight to get back to the house in 47:08, precisely one second slower than on Tuesday. Talk about being consistent. An average pace of 4:15 per km as I set the Garmin off higher up the drive than 2 days ago !

The comparison with Tuesday stops here. The snow continued to fall and by the time I got in the car to drive to work, there was a good 5 cm of snow everywhere. This was sufficient to cause chaos in the capital and it took me 2hours and 45 minutes to drive the 30km into work. I'd have been faster running in. What happened to the gritters ?