Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted…

As constant readers may recall, last week Oxford experienced the heaviest snowfall of the recent past — certainly since Margaret and I moved to Oxford, and (we were told) for at least a couple of years before that. I didn’t venture out for my weekly constitutional, since (a) the pavements seemed likely to be slippery [as it turns out, they were slippery] and (b) my running shoes have a hole in the right foot, and if I hadn’t slipped and fallen, I would certainly have developed a case of Cold Wet Sock.

I expected, then, that this week’s adventure would mark a setback, and I was technically correct. My time this week was 11:28, a few seconds off the pace of a fortnight ago. On the other hand, I pushed my ‘didn’t break stride’ mark another half block (to Aston Street, for those of you keeping score at home) and I didn’t feel especially stiff or extra-winded. This week wasn’t an upset (over the forces of indolence and bad weather), but neither was it a disappointment. And although I expect to miss another couple of runs over the holidays, I am actually looking forward, a bit, to Hilary Term and running on Wednesday mornings as well as Sundays.

Lo, He Comes with Run and Walking

Not as cold as last week (somewhat to my surprise, since yesterday was freezing). This week my breathing held me back; my legs — though by no means very strong — held up pretty well, but I was gasping throughout. Time was 11:20, I think.

By the way, both of the last two weeks I made it to the bus stop past Henley St before I broke stride.