It's Ascension day today in France and as a good Catholic country, it is also a public holiday. So much for the separation between the church and the state in France - but since it's a day off for everyone who am I to argue. We're making the most of the prolonged weekend by taking a day off tomorrow too and spending the weekend in Aurillac in the Cantal. This is a lovely part of the country and is most famous for its cattle (salers - big red cows with long horns), its hilly countryside and its umbrellas.
Laurence and I wanted to make the most of the day by running up to St Simon along the old road and then uphill and along some old trails along the hillside up the valley to Rouffiac, before turning around and running back along the other side of the valley. It had rained here over night and the road was damp. This is only remarkable since the Cantal is one of the rare regions not to be severely affected by the drought over the last couple of months, unlike the rest of France. Running was very pleasant since the temperature was cool but the skies had cleared and we were accompanied all of the way round by sunshine.
I accompanied Laurence up to Rouffiac after 7.5 kms where she cut back to run back the main road. I was feeling particularly energetic and decided to continue on until the next hamlet, Clavières. We'd been running at around 6:00 per kilometre up until this point and I stretched away now running at just under 5:00 per km along the trails until the main road. I then managed the next 8 kilometres back down the main road at marathon pace including a couple of kilometres after St Simon at 3:53 then 3:47 as I pushed the pace in a not convinced hope of catching Laurence who now had a 4 km start on me. I felt really good after a good night's sleep and some beautiful countryside to inspire me though.
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