Winter, spring, summer or fall.....take your pick

Two days after biking and running on a glorious warm spring day I was out running in 2 inches of snow. This was a long road run round the back lanes in the Chilterns. It was bitterly cold but it had stopped snowing and despite the cold, by the time I got home the snow had all but melted. I picked a hilly route and was fairly pleased with the run but felt a little jaded having been out dancing at a Northern Soul do 'til gone midnight the night before.

It was the second time that I'd been out in my new waterproof top and I must just say how impressed I am with it. It's a green Salomon Paclite Jacket. It's very minimalist in design with a rolldown hood, waterproof zips and just two hip level pockets but it is great to run in. You forget you're wearing it which is exactly what you want from a running jacket. No chaffing or scraping just excellent breathability and wind and waterproofness.

I'm also very impressed with another recent purchase, my Gore running top and tights. Same thing as the jacket. They do their job brilliantly without making their presence felt.

Bring on the weather.

What Am I Packing?

Having now packed for a wet week they've gone and changed the weather forecast already. There are sunny intervals (and showers) for the latter half of the week now. I see Murren, which is just across the Lauterbrunnen valley from Wengen, has snow forecast down to 2800m. We will be running almost up to that height at some time during the week. So I now have to pack for a heatwave, a monsoon and a whiteout. Just in case.

The knee is a bit better today. Touch wood.

Not sure if I'll be able to blog from Switzerland but keep checking in just in case.

Auf weider blog.

Global Wetting

Not to let a simple thing like a gale stop me from going out I decided to get serious and go out for a longer than usual run yesterday. It was mostly off road but I left the dog at home as I didn't want to get half way round to find she'd had enough. At about 6 degrees centigrade it was borderline leggings weather but I opted for shorts (coupled with thermal top and waterproof jacket). As it turned out it was just about right. I overheat very easily. The route took me over the Chilterns highest point (a whole 900 ft), down through Wendover then up Coombe Hill (top left in photo, a massive 850 ft) then down and round the back of Chequers (prime minister's country retreat, see photo). Tony didn't seem to be in. I once ran past there under the watchfull eye of a shades wearing security man sat in his Range Rover in the middle of the field in the foreground of the photo. I guess Tony was in that day. The post and rail fence around that field is made from old railway lines and steel bars. Up over Dunsmore Ridge then back down to Wendover to pick up the Ridgeway path back home. There were leaves, branches and fallen trees all over the place. The trees around here fall over at the slightest excuse. I reckon their roots are shallow as the top soil is any a few inches thick on top of the underlying chalk. I took a Camelbak rucksac with 1 litre of fluids, a banana and two biscuit bars for sustenance. Felt commfortable all the way round but was glad to finish. According to my trusty Polar I did 34.2 km (about 21-22 miles) in 3h 20 mins. Well worth a road marathon considering conditions underfoot. Legs don't feel too bad today which is encouraging.