Scarlet Runner by crooxi

I have spent much of the past 2 weeks feeling like something that lives under a flat stone. (Actually I like my flat stone - I like it a lot! It currently feels like my refuge from a lot of unpleasantness, and the one place I am occasionally left in peace........... well, almost.) You will gather it has not been the most enjoyable of times, and it's not over yet. One more week of the current horribleness to go, then a few days on tour in Hamburg (who knows what that will be like?), and then............... well, I hope there will be time to breathe and de-stress and get back to something resembling normality.

Right, enough of that! Running to recount! (There has been some, thanks to the incentive of the '2012 in 2012' pushing me out of the door even when I felt 'too tired'. Not high-octane stuff, but enough to keep things ticking over.) Monday 9 Jan: out over midday with J. A dull day, but fairly mild. Hirtenhof, Waldrand, goats, down to Allmend, 4 times round the track; then back into the woods, and up the main track to the hut; J. went home, while I went on up to Oberrüti, twice round the fig. of 8, back down again, and home down the zigzags, for 11.05 km in 1:24:39. Wednesday 11 Jan: Midday, with J. Up to Stutz, Matthof, lake, 5 times round the Wagner Museum, home along the lake. 5.22 km in 36:38. Thursday was my allocated washday (the house has a communal washing machine), so no time for running. Also managed to sprain my jaw (? yes), biting a little too vigorously into a somewhat resistant bread roll, which was quite painful for a couple of days, and is still giving me trouble now. (It's a myth that all opera singers have huge mouths - mine is very small.) Friday 13 Jan: another midday run with J. Waldrand, goats, no. 7 terminus, down to Sternegg, gardens path, bit of woodland, Wartegg, Wagner Museum; planned originally to turn right here and go home along the lake, but decided to do a bit more by turning left down to Alpenquai and adding in a loop of the Ufschötti; then back to Wartegg by a new little path we've only recently explored, and home via Wagner Museum and the lake. Felt longer than it actually was: 8.04 km, in 58:20. Saturday 14 Jan was a solo effort, Bireggwald, afternoon. Up to the Vita Parcours; 1st stop, the Reck, and 3 pull-ups; 2nd stop, the benches at the top of the Finnebahn, for 20 triceps dips and 20 push-ups; down the other side of the Finnebahn, and back to the Reck for 3 more pull-ups; then to the middle of the woods, up to Oberrüti, once round the fig. of 8, down again, and home via the zigzags. Lost a few hundred metres by forgetting to un-pause the Garmin at one point, but was about 7 km (Garmin showed 6.43 in 49:37.) Much colder - had to brush ice off the Reck and the bench before use.

So week 2 of the 2012 challenge added another 30.75 km to my tally, making a total of 81.88 km (50.88 miles.)

Sunday 15 Jan: finally a whole day off! - the first in 12 days. A little island of peace and sanity in the midst of all the.......... (*add whichever word seems suitable - I'm too polite to write it!) Good opportunity for a long run, so we got the bus to Meggen Gottlieben and ran home via the castle and along the lake. Hard frost, -2°, a rather frisky wind, but bright sunshine - lovely. Said hello to the donkeys (6 of them) in their field; stopped off at the public toilets after only 800 metres............. a slow start, but picked up speed as it went along. Lots of people out enjoying the fine day - more and more of them, the nearer we got to Luzern. Stopped off briefly at Hotel Hermitage to see if the little ice rink was still open - it was, and very popular - before picking up speed along the short stretch of main road. Slalomed our way through the hordes of people in the lakeside park and along Schweizerhofquai; over the Seebrücke, and home along our side of the lake, taking all the longer alternatives to stretch the distance a bit. I reckoned with about 1 hr 50, but it came in at 1:38:39 for the 14.36 km (so somewhat faster than usual - or should I say 'less slow than usual'?!) A bit on the short side for a bona fide 'long run', but I was feeling mildly tired towards the end, after 3 days' running in a row. It was heaven to get home knowing I didn't have to go out again! - time to cook a proper meal, time to enjoy it, time to relax.

Tuesday 17 Jan: another short midday outing with J. Up the side of the woods (to take advantage of what sun there was), round the fig. of 8, down to the hut and the middle of the woods, home down the zigzags. Very, very cold; everything thickly furred with frost. 5.45 km in 44:35. Wednesday and Thursday, perfect running weather, milder and sunny............. but really too tired. Friday 20 Jan: weather now grim and wintry. Still feeling dead, but thought 'go out, just do 5.........', and set off. Down to the PO first, posted a letter, then along the lake to the Wagner Museum. Running without plan, just to put in the distance. Once round the museum, then over to Wartegg, across the bridge, through the bit of woodland, and via gardens path to Sternegg. Felt like turning for home, but instead headed up the hill to the no. 7 bus terminus, and into the woods. Somewhere along the line, the 'dynamo effect' started to kick in again, and I felt that upwards of 5 might be possible. By the time I had passed the goats and turned off towards the ponds, I had revised the target to 10. Up from the ponds to the middle of the woods, then up some more, to Oberrüti; twice round the fig. of 8, down again, back to the middle, a couple of times round the triangle for good measure, and home down the zigzags. Wind, rain, snow - that hard, round sort that's almost like hail. It felt good, actually! - good to battle against something as simple and impartial as the weather, rather than deviousness, insensitivity, and over-inflated egos. 11.15 km in the end, in 1:21:13.

And so ended another week of the '2012 in 2012' challenge, with another 30.95 km, and a total of 112.83 km (70.11 miles.) Into a new century, with 1899.17 km to go! A good point to end this post, and report again at the end of this week. (With apologies for all the minutiae of my routes, of no great interest to anyone - just for my own record, really.)