Day 18 - 4 Quick, 4 Slow, 4 Quick

Summer fields...

With the forecast of another wet day on the cards, it was going to have to be an early one to beat the rain. The sun was shining at 7:00 with a lot of blue sky so I set off out the door at 7:30. The planned route today was for a 12 miler which is split between 4 miles on the road, 4 miles over fields then finishing with a further 4 on the road. I had last run this loop 3 weeks ago in the dry and knew the field sections were probably going to be pretty wet after the recent heavy rain.

I set off on the first road section between a 7 and 7:30 pace, this led to a gravel section, a bridge over the M6 and then down a country lane. As I approached the house that belongs to two dogs, I knew they would soon spot me and charge down the lane to 'greet' me. Sure enough, I'd barely got the past the house and there they were! On through the farm to the start of the off road section which is part of the North Cheshire Way.

In to the first field crossing and the grass was knee high (was this going to be a repeat peformance of yesterday?). This time however the grass was very wet and by now my feet were soaking! Over a couple of stiles and I was presented with a difficult field to edge round with the grass now over waist height. This is supposed to be a public footpath I thought, obviously not widely used except for the occasional idiot out running! Eventually through and the pace for the last mile had dropped to over 11 minutes!

There's a path here somewhere!

A short burst up the lane to the furthest point of the run and then the start of the journey back. The next farm is approached through a very ornate gate whereupon a very angry goose was patrolling the courtyard. The said goose was strutting it's stuff and hissing loudly (no need for a guard dog!). Straight on past the goose and the next couple of miles on fields with much more manageable length grass. I finally got past the last farm and the end of the middle 4 miles, which had taken 9 minutes longer than the first!

Interesting gate...

So back onto firm ground and time to up the pace for the final 4 miles to home. The sun had been quite warm up to this point but the dark clouds were now beginning to build, let's see if I can out run this rain! After all this mileage the legs were not feeling too bad with the faster pace and the last 4 miles were completed in under 29 minutes! Not long after getting home the heavens opened with a mixture of heavy rain and hailstones, glad I had missed that!

Stats
Distance: 12.18 miles
Time: 1:38:31
Juneathon Total Distance: 160.40 miles