Cold, wet and dismal

Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat. No, I'm not that far gone yet but sometimes in the winter I can kind of identify with "he gat no heat". Today it was cold and drizzling and misty and dismal and I ran my usual course plus a bit along the lake-side, 6.6 miles in all, followed by a long hot bath and then a book, an arm-chair, a large mug of hot tea and Cherry Bakewell for recovery.

Blessington lake in the mist

Barefoot waterworks or Jacuzzi

Take a disused and abandoned tilapia project (doubled "glazed" poly-tunnel with 6 ft dia round tank), clean all the junk the fish left behind from the tank, fill with water and leave for a few days in this amazing weather we have been enjoying.  Add a circulating pump and make a nozzle with a bit of 1" copper pipe bashed at the end and, hey presto, a sort of jacuzzi for "free".

After rising early and running 5 miles in warm drizzling rain (first warm rain this year), what better than to return via the tunnel and take a quick, refreshing dip in the jacuzzi.  I invited the dog too but she wasn't so keen: she jumped in but jumped straight out again!

On this occasion it wasn't warm enough to stay longer than it took to take these photo's, but in good weather it gets as hot as a sauna in this part of the tunnel.

Did I say I have a bad heel? - it might just be a burst blood blister or it might be a splinter.  Both are grist for the mill and part of the challenge when running the forest loop.  Good barefoot runners land on the ball of their feet so a bad heel can be accommodated to some extent...