Corra variant

After a long party to celebrate the Paris marathon results of our little team, I told Nico that we would take it easy this morning for our run out to Corra and back. We also agreed that in the interests of our respective waistlines that we could extend the run to burn off a few extra calories.

It was tough out there at 9:00am this morning. I hadn't had enough sleep after going to bed after 2:00 am and having tasted 5 different whiskies during the evening, not to mention the different wines on offer, I was a little sluggish to say the least. However, Nico looked as rough as I did so that was a relief. For once, we kept to our promises and set off easily and didn't push the pace too hard, too early.

It was a lovely sunny morning but not too warm and it wasn't too long before we arrived at Corra and having almost finished the loop we changed directions instead of running up to Pavillon de la Muette, we headed parallel to the path by which we arrived, running back in the direction of Maisons Laffitte. This path skirts the wall that defines the limits of the commune and heads towards the racecourse in Maisons Laffitte. The path is fairly direct to begin with before it narrows considerably and winds it way through the trees, turning left and right alternately every 6 or 7 metres or so. This is great fun but hard work on the knees and thighs as you have to push off and pick up speed again after every bend.

We were averaging between 4:10 and 4:20 pace now and arrived back alongside the road that runs perpendicular to the Maisons Laffitte - Achères road through the forest. Some more twists and turns before we hit the bumps beside the railway line and it was the last run uphill through the forest before getting back into Le Mesnil. This last section, we felt the call of home, knew that we had almost finished and so both pushed the pace running just under 15 km/h up the slope.

18.9 km all up in 1:21 or an average pace of 4:20 / km.