Friday night, Saturday morning

This has just got to the year of the injury or something very similar. This time though I wasn't even doing anything energetic or somehow out of the ordinary. Oh no. All I had was a bit of a sore back that needed stretching out and what could be more simple? So there I was lying on the floor in a nice stretching pose when, without warning, a bolt of pain blossomed from my lower back and all that I could think was: how the hell can I stop this pain? It was so bad that I could barely get off of the floor and even that took a lot of rolling over and some leveraging from a nearby bed. Not pretty.

Come on in - the water's lovely!

So this morning I wasn't over keen on going out running but on the other hand I felt rather compelled as, yet again, I haven't managed a single run in the week. This is beginning to get ridiculous. Anyway I thought that I'd better make the effort, given the blue sky outside, and so I took myself down to the Heath and managed to arrive in time for the off.

Bring on the mustache!

Happily we stuck to familiar North London streets by heading down to Hampstead Garden Suburb and around the back streets of North Finchley. Nothing too strenuous and with plenty of opportunity for conversation and general catching up; very much a classic Saturday route that caters for the broader group and ensures that no one gets left behind (except by choice). In terms of fitness I felt okay but it was pretty obvious that my style was compromised by my sore back; so I hung back and tried not to get caught up in the end-of-run sprint to the finish. No point taking chances!

Distance: 7.1 miles

Time: 1h 04m 21s