Missing Time

The evenings are almost dark now by the time I get home and so this was probably the last time I will run my favourite Wood Lane route for a while as there are too many potholes and not enough lights.

I was keen to go for a personal best. The route is about 5.5 kms or 3.4 miles. My previous best without fishcakes was 29:56. I decided to run without the help of fishcakes as I am due a fishcake doping test soon and need to clean my blood. I know if I am found with fishcakes in my system I might be banned from racing.

I set off at my fastest pace. Slightly faster than slow endurance. My leg muscles were burning with the effort as I pushed on the early part of my route which involves a steady uphill climb up to the thin air at over 100 feet. I felt my systems beginning to struggle and shut down at this altitude. Nevertheless I ignored the pain and pushed on down Wood Lane in the dark.

When I got to the end of Wood Lane I reached the corner with Boathouse Lane where the lovely downhill starts. I was hit by a blast of wind. It felt great. Like a cool shower. Totally refreshed I charged on removing my hat. There was a head wind against me but I was going downhill and still running well.

The front was quite blustery too but I settled into a nice pace knowing I was easily going to beat my previous time. I was so confident I had time to turn my head towards the chip shop and take in the lovely scent...thankfully I turned my head back just in time to avoid the litter bin. Now that would have been an embarrassing injury !

I kicked on home and arrived totally out of breath. I must have shaved a good minute or two off my previous best. I couldn't believe it when I looked at my watch - a measly 14 seconds quicker after all that effort !!

I had run at full pelt at 8:42 pace and yet my slow endurance run on Saturday of over 13 1/2 km was at 9:01 pace. No way !

After racking my mind for a while I came to the only logical conclusion a sane person could make. I had experienced "missing time" . I had of course been abducted by aliens - probably on Wood Lane. It was the only possible explanation and would explain the feeling of tiredness when I reached Boathouse Lane. I had been PROBED. Obviously in their excitement of examining such a finely tuned athlete they had forgotten to stop and then restart my stopwatch...and I had been worried about my time. Silly me ?!!