into the dark and rainy morning i did go-bad leg and all

well, the plan was to test out the leg a bit and see how it felt. went out in what i can only call the pouring rain. gail refrained from joining me. clearly not a day for everyone, but i never minded running in the rain and frankly i never cared how wet i got. what i hate running in is wind!

but i wanted to see how the right leg was doing and i started up binsey lane gingerly towards st. margaret's church. i saw nobody. the leg felt tight but so far no real pain. i went about a mile and a half and stopped for a quick stretch though stretched slowly enough to be careful. the right quad was very tight and i still think i strained it doing 100's last week. the pf muscle didn't feel that bad and even the part of the right quad that usually hurts wasn't too bad so far.

to the church and back down the lane and then over the rainbow bridge and towards port meadow. decided to head over to the burgess nature park which i just love running in. through the puddles i went. there is no way to avoid them as the field and paths are mostly under some level of water. three woman walking their dogs in their welly boots head the other way splashing along and almost yelling at each other so they can hear themselves talk in the rain.

at the gate for the park i stop and stretch again. not as tight but not good. the right quad clearly does not want to be running. into the park i take it anyway and head up the west trail past colorful forsythias and trumpet vines. about a mile up i run into a deer who stops and looks at me to see what i am and then a decent size rabbit scares him off. funny scene. i go on. the views to the west are incredible as the storm rises over the woods on the hills. i hear the gate close and i know i am not alone anymore. was surprised to hear it so clearly as i was at least a mile away from it now. around the bend i ran and stopped yet again to stretch. i am trying to keep it loose but it is fighting me. picture a clock and i am running from 6 around past 9 and am now about 1. down the trail i head and decide to enter a side trail and run on the inner grass trails. how much wetter can i get anyway and it is very pretty in here with the flowers and trees.

and then i am back at the gate and headed out. decide to turn and run over the bridge towards the oxford canal. why not? the sun is almost peeking through and the rain is letting up. if went straight home i would have about 9 miles. the leg will just tag along today and i will decide what to do later. clearly for it to get better it will need weeks and not a couple of days. so down the canal i go. the rain stops and suddenly it feels warm.

but the canal is lovely today and the water is high and very dark. people's gardens along the water are in full bloom. i like the way they use their pots to add color and height. i store ideas for my garden at home. have spent a good part of today's run thinking of how to move stuff around in the garden and what needs to be done once i see what is still alive. i remind myself that the gas can is empty and that the lawn will need cutting for sure. i vow to get rid of even more grass this year.

down the canal i go staying out of the way of the people on bikes headed to work. no warnings of course as i am still in england. sometimes i move when i hear them and sometimes i stay put and see if they will say something, but they don't and eventually i move over. for bikes coming the other way i always get out of the way to make it easy for them and they always say thank you. i just love this culture. americans tell me we are laid back and the english tell me that we are so aggressive. can they both be right? i have met so many really, really nice people here but so many are so private and look at any good morning as an invasion of their own personal space. just funny to me, but as i have said before it is hard enough being an ENFP in the usa let alone in the land of ISTJ's. look up myers briggs for that.

at the bottom of the canal i turn over the bridge and head towards the train station and then over the bridge and across botley road. down the ramp and head towards the grocery store for fruit and yogurt and a paper. 9 miles done. the leg was not good. it needs rest, but it will wait. i can give it three days when we go to wales and ten days in ireland. if it is no better then i will take two weeks off. i do want to run the two marathons i have in mind and i have the distance work almost in. several days in london coming up and on the day when gail is there and i am not i had planned to run 4 hours. will see.

the rest of the day went ok given the heavy rain that fell off and on and i even heard thunder today. did some laundry and then hit some balls and chipped some. helped the pro for a bit and then came home. gail and i had dinner and went for a walk while the rain had mostly stopped. always good to be out of this house. we went up to the train station but found no info on the trip to wales and will go back during the day. we need a train through Birmingham is all we know for now. would like to stop and see builth, wales if possible but will be hard.

and here i am typing. need to be up at 5am for the bus to london so need to get going. another day almost down. bookclub tomorrow night. all good. down the homestretch we come. which big brown will we be?

23 days to go-