Whinging is unacceptable and fortitude is indispen

What a morning. It was sunny but about 6 degrees.....bit cold! I got off the train at Guide Bridge and ran along the canal with a new Electronic Groove podcast blasting in my ears. I was feeling joyful, bounding over puddles plyometrically and simply enjoying myself. The light was amazing especially with the trees changing into their autumnal coats. I even saw a fine specimen of a cock yellow wagtail

I arrived at the velodrome in a great mood. The guys from TrainingPeaks were over from Boulder doing a workshop on their software to a group of coaches and I was simply playing host. Everything went really smoothly and I got a bit of time chatting with legendary coach Joe Friel. The track Nationals are on too so it was a chance to catch up with a few of the Scots lot that were here.

At the end of the day, all the coaches wanted their photo taken with Joe and I just happened to be picked upon as official photographer.....I must have taken over 20 photos with various phones. Then it was outside to do a group shot...gahhh...I was gonna bring my DSLR but chose not too! Just as well my wee Sony is decent.

Once everyone was gone, I got my running kit back on, deciding to run all the way home....nearly 20km of it. The good bit was that I my average pace was the same as I was running for 1km two years ago! I also discovered a bit of canal towards Hyde that I've never been on before. It was a risk following it as going in the wrong direction would have added to the distance. It all worked out well though. It was really dark when I crossed into the Etherow valley and I didn't have a head torch on....quite challenging running 'blind' when on trails. I got to the village safely although Moss Lane in the final km with it's 25% gradient made the legs feel like jelly! No complaints though.

Quote of the day from a book I just started to read, Feet in the Clouds, was "up on the fells, whinging is unacceptable and fortitude is indispensable". I think this will be a mantra when I'm running in The Peak!