Chorizo

The chorizo had all gone. I searched the fridge from top to bottom. I hadn't expected to find it and on the bottom shelf towards the back I discovered some feta. It's been a long time since we've eaten anything with feta in it. I believe it was a chicken breast stuffed with spinach and feta and wrapped in bacon. That was at least three weeks ago so I was wary as I unwrapped it. It was still as white as snow but smelled slightly stronger than freshly opened feta. I tried to crumble it into my turkey thigh mince I had frying in the pan but it was more slimy than crumbly. I considered finding my telephone a tweeting something about my feta being fetid but did not bother. 

I cooked my turkey and egg and feta mixture longer than normal to kill any poison.

It was still drizzling but with less gusto that yesterday and as I ate my breakfast I decided to go running early. On Sunday Samuel and I ran 13 miles on the cliff paths. We ran slowly, soaking up the scenery but still the last three miles had been taxing. That was the last time I had run apart from a mile with the boy last night. On Sunday I had worn road shoes on the trails, he trail shoes, but both of us had slipped the same amount of times proving what? I do not know. It must have been Sunday morning that my wife ate the last of the chorizo. I was out running for an hour a forty minutes giving her plenty of opportunity.

It is very mild. 13 degrees according to the car also that also warned me of an engine malfunction when I started it. It started with an effort, as if the battery was flat but it did start and I drove the long way to St Aubin where I was to start today's run, to charge up the battery. Whilst driving the drizzle grew heavier which was disappointing but the extra two miles ensured my Garmin had locked onto a satellite by the time I'd parked.

I never run well the day after not running. My intention was to run quite hard but in the end my run would be best described as steady. My legs felt quite sore. I could feel the knee raises I started to do yesterday but I was pleased with that feeling. That pain suggests I need to do more knee raises.

I wore my longer shorts, my Asics Gel Piranhas, my Adidas cap and a garish Superdry T-shirt which was a hand-me-down from my nephew. Some hate it but I enjoy running in normal T-shirts. I enjoy the feeling when it's heavy and soaked with sweat.

The first mile felt uncomfortable because I did not run yesterday and it took me 6:13. The second mile I felt more comfortable and that one took 6:12. The third mile included the turn where I run around the last shelter and that one took 6:19. Now I was on the way back towards my car and this part was a headwind. The whole front has shelters dotted at intervals of about 300 metres. One of them stinks of urine but the wind meant today I didn't smell it. It was quite a stiff headwind it turned out, as I ran into it, although it hadn't felt like much as it pushed me along. My now soaking T-shirt was pushed by the wind against my torso which made me feel self-conscious. Superdry? Quite the opposite! It told on my pace and the fourth mile took 6:38. I spent a lot of this mile looking at the drips of rain hanging from the peak of my cap. The fifth mile took 6:32 and then I pass the car park where I parked the car and do a small loop which includes a very steep hill at the back of the Somerville Hotel. Somebody was burning onions on that hill, probably in the hotel's kitchens. It was not an unpleasant smell. I like onions but can never chop one. I can chop a quarter of an onion but then there is nothing to hold.

Although running up the hill is physically very demanding I enjoy it because it's not mentally demanding. Unlike on the flat I do not have to force an effort on the hill, the hill forces effort from me. That sixth mile I completed in 6:52 and then all that was left was a third of a mile along the harbour and back to my starting point. I completed this at a pace of 6:16 mile.

Overall I was slightly disappointed with my pace which averaged at 6:27 minutes per mile for the 6.28 miles. The car started fine and as I drove home my glasses steamed up. My wife has left me a shopping list and yes, although I never mentioned it to her, chorizo is on that list. Proof if it were needed that she ate the last bit.