rare sunny day in oxford

with five days ahead of heavy rain predicted it was nice to have a rare day of almost warm sun today. in almost eight months you can count days like today on two hands. and the days are getting longer also of course. and just as i think spring may have arrived the forecast is for colder and wetter days coming.

but today was a good one and after very little sleep again-not quite sure what to do about the cat running around all night crying, but will have to talk to the vet this week or figure out some way of keeping him quiet.

so up and out of here reasonably early. morning basal heart rate was 46. with no real expectations after yesterday's dead running legs i went out the door and up to the church and then back to the measured sprint stretch of binsey lane. the legs were moving ok and nowhere near as sore or dead as yesterday. ran 10 sprints in a relaxed but faster mode. started at 8 minute pace and worked my way down to just under 7:30ace. for this distance that is not that hard, even for me. the key was to stay relaxed and in control while trying to use both legs-that even sounds funny as i type it. the right leg was tight in the usual two places, but moved at least.

after the sprints i stretched a bit and headed over to the river. went north to the tree cemetery and then south all the way back to botley road and then a long loop around king edward park and to the store and home. a pretty decent 6+ miles. even felt some spring in the legs as i walked the last yards to the house.

a quick cleanup and breakfast later we were on our way to the bus station a mile away and caught a bus towards Blenheim palace, but stopped before that and walked a little more than a mile to the village of bladon. this is about a mile from the palace where winston churchill was born and here in bladon, at st martin's church he and his family are buried. a nice little church that had been rebuilt in the late 1800's. was pretty interesting to see the family plot and the other graves as they always tell a story of the history of the area.

we also ran into a colleague of gail's from the university and then we headed off to the palace passing by a world war memorial to the fallen from the village. the guess work started about this time as we tried to figure out how to get back to the palace even though we were on palace grounds. this is a really huge place and a wrong turn can mean extra miles of walking as there are few ways to cross the lake/river. with two ways to go we picked one and headed off. in truth we probably went the longer way, but was really hard to guess from where we were. a few signs might have been helpful, but about three - four miles later along what was a very pretty and rolling road we came to some people going the other way and they said we had a bit more than 2 miles probably to go.

we went on and came to the statute of john churchill the war hero and original owner of the palace that we had seen from the distance when we last visited the palace. and across the famous bridge who's name i now forget and eventually the palace came into view and up and around and we were there. by now, we had walked about 8 miles in total and my quads were not happy. we took the coffee, diet coke and scone break and that helped revive us. it was about 66 degrees at this point.

we had come just to go through the gardens again and to see how they had bloomed out. hope gail's pictures turn out as they were really nice. i counted 15 different types of japanese maple trees. i have 14 at home and have none of these so will look forward to adding some back in virginia. taking copious notes and walking around for another 2 hours with one sit break at the waterfalls it was a really nice little treat. we also met some nice australians and some women from new england. all good.

then we walked the long walk back to the bus and actually got through the gate before they closed this time and eventually made our way back to oxford and the walk home. 6+ miles of running and about 10 of walking. enough exercise for the day for sure. no real chance of going to the golf range today to see what was wrong yesterday and will try tomorrow weather depending. a nice day outing. and a day less to go.

time to decide what we can get done and what we will skip. suddenly the end is in sight. gail still has at least a few trips to go on and i have one more stateside visit. for me the rest of the time will be a mix of running, some golf and some travel sightseeing. plus we have friends coming in country in may. time should go quickly and hopefully the house will keep functioning at least at its current level- one step above a tent. not much more need for heat which is good. the house has only been above 62 degrees one time since we have been here. was 64 once-not sure how that happened. the power is back on though my computer outlet stopped working and i changed outlets, but now gave up the light. just relating, not complaining. all positive, all the time, that's me.

now to north carolina and indianna- does it ever end? yes of course, but not quick enough for anyone i know.

four days of heavy rain ahead- should be fun.
stay well everyone.