a little bit of a few things

always interesting the day after a horrible run when trying to decide what to do about that day's run. tom lehman, the golfer, when asked what the toughest shot in golf was, replied - the shot after you hit a shank-
same thing about a run. morning heart rate was 46. not too bad. gail and i went out and to be kind to her heel we headed north on the river. i'm thinking if i feel ok i will stay out for ten miles and if not try to bag it fast so i can recover more quickly. close to 50 degrees, but windy and cloudy. must have rained last night as the ground was still wet, but it was all ok. legs got going a bit going up binsey lane and i waited patiently to see if the back would loosen up, which eventually it did. feeling ok so far, but no need to decide what to do yet.

the oxford crew teams were out on the water-which looked pretty green today- and we made our way up towards the godstow nunnery ruins. the nunnery was built on land given to the widow of sir william launceline in 1133 to be used by the nuns of the benedictine order. the church was consecrated in 1139. there is a lot of history regarding the church and lots of stuff went on as the roman catholic church and the church of england did their own little battle.

later henry II buried his mistress rosanne clifford there in 1176. known for her beauty, she was laid to rest in the choir part of the church. and there she stayed until two years after he died when the bishop of lincoln realized she was there, and calling her a "harlot", had her moved to the nun's cemetary.

eventually henry VII dissolved the monasteries and it was somewhat destroyed and then owned by private families. there is so much more history to this place of course, but that is a bit of it.

we ran up and into the ruins to see what was left inside and you could clearly see where the chapel had been and some of the leftover stone walls, but not much else and now i am told they use the land for cow grazing.

back down the river all the way to botley road where i left gail to head home and i went back out for another hour or so. even found another old cemetary which i will explore later sometime and then i headed over to the canal to add some miles along the water. warm going north, but the wind really picked up coming back south and i headed over to the loop around the train station and then ran some striders there on the trail. all in all i felt pretty good and not really sure how i recovered as well as i did from yesterday. got 11 miles in and called it a day. gave me 52 for the week. at some point i will need to stay out and get a longer run in, but i am just doing too many similar days right now of 7 - 11. will live with it that way until it is lighter earlier and i change my schedule a bit. with gail running every other day or short second days because of her heel, my loop runs are harder to get in. all good though as i recovered from yesterday and after the striders and good stretching i should be ok tomorrow. will see....

after breakfast, laundry and listening to pbs from last night we headed out and took a bus up to bicester village, an old shopping village about 11-12 miles north east of oxford. cost us $13.20 for two roundtrip tickets senior rate. a bennie of being old.

we saw some of the village and shops and took time to visit the st edburgh's church site. trying to piece together the history goes something like this. the current church which is several hundred years old replaced a saxon church from the 11th century. the first listed vicar is from 1106. old anyway you put it but very pretty and interesting.

bought some books at the used book sale and some goodies at the local bakery. got the roger bannister book about the 4 minute mile and a dr rotella golf book to help my head. gail bought 2 world war one history books.

and then back home where i sit now listening to tiger play stenson on pga radio. a decent day and another one almost behind me. no golf range at all today; gave the body and head a rest. root for justin leonard as well. and look forward to a good day tomorrow.
ps. i almost forgot- had my watch battery changed at a kiosk in bicester for $8.00,$12 cheaper there than in oxford. guy was a golfer who went to the states every year and loved olive garden and red lobster. everyone here loves those two places, he didn't like denny's. of course.