Grinding on

With Claudie away in France, the conversation with Solo the cat being a bit one way and the thought of having to sit through Scotland v Italy on tv, I decided to run the White Horse '5' despite feeling rubbish still. Did a few miles in the park first thing whilst Chris & Adrian were doing a 4 mile time trial; if anything this at least got my body out of its lethargy. The race was nondescript, classy at the front but only 56 runners in total meaning lots of gaps. Sustained good sub 5.30 miles and shaved another 10 seconds off my V50 pb with my fastest time in 19 years! Wanted sub 27 really, perhaps next time. Thankfully was totally oblivious to a fast finishing Paul Barlow nearly catching me.
Caught up with old Ranelagh teammate Mike McDowell at the race. He is 81 now and officiates for Severn AC despite suffering a severe stroke a couple of years back. He has been banging on at me to bring down the McDowell Salver, a solid silver trophy that he donated a few years ago to the first Ranelagh V50 which I won last winter. I duly obliged and we posed for the picture shown, a copy of which will now go into the Ranelagh archives.
Next day Cirencester had a bit of work to do to ensure runners-up spot in the Oxford League at a new course near Faringdon. Adrian, Paul, Barry Sampson and I ran an 8 mile loop before the race and another 4 afterwards to get a good morning's mileage combined with the race. Thanks to 3 in 11 and good support further down the field, we won on the day which was great news.
Then it was home, via a quick visit to my mum in Elm Grove Nursing Home, to discuss the evening's menu with Solo. I decided on some venison procured from work and marinated in red wine. Solo decided to do his own thing and dined at the top of the stairs on a particularly succulent and very fresh pigeon. There were feathers everywhere!