I was back at Leeds this weekend for more of my Sports Nutrition course. It started off quite like an ultra marathon day. Up at 4.45 am, cycled to station in full waterproofs as it was pouring it down. Got wet despite waterproofs (must get new ones). Spent some time on a train. Got off train and got on a bus. So far, so good, this was most unlike fraught journeys to runs! I would make 09.00 lecture in heaps of time! Then bus stopped, for no reason, quite some way away from where it was meant to go, and from where I was meant to be. This being more like a usual journey, I instantly felt more at home, and completed my journey to the university therefore with a run, and made it through the door at 08.59.
I was upset to be missing some running that I wanted to do this weekend. And I keep seeing everyone's pictures of all they are doing and feeling I'm not keeping up. Plus, some of my booked races have been postponed (quite understandably) becuase of the Covid-19 and I am worried when the next time I'll be able to do a organised run will be! But, I've wanted for ages to do this course, and as my Mum said "you're legs won't forget how to run just because you have a weekend off".
Quite.
Anyway, I did fit some running in (sorry Mum). Saturday night, I decided to brave running through student-ville again (after my last experience here of being chased by a drunk man), despite having forgotten to bring one of my Excalibur sword medals as defence. It didn't start too well, it was fancy dress night, and I spent a few minutes negotiating safe passage through Headingly avoiding giant bananas and cowboys etc. It soon got a bit quieter, and I made it down to Kirkstall Abbey in the valley, which was looking splendidly spooky in the dark, although as far less scary than the students up above.
I woke up in the night, worried I was going to get Coronovirus and be isolated in a Premier Inn room in Leeds, with nothing but myself, half of a book left to read, and two assignments to do, for two weeks. Honestly, that would probably result in a better quality of assignment than what I'll manage (my feedback from my last assignment was that the length was good, but I could have used the words that gave the length, to better effect). Brilliant. Then I started worrying about that, so tried to read some of my book to distract myself. This is about law and the problems with the legal system in this country. In the end, I managed to fall asleep, and had a dream where I was on holiday and got stranded in an underground house because of Coronovirus, meanwhile the princess of the island had been tried and found guilty of murdering her husband, and written to the local paper (which I was reading in the underground house) to contest the verdict, but the letter was too long, and had been cut half way.
I was happy get up.To celebrate, I went for a fasted run (despite all my races getting cancelled, I still want to get better at 100 milers, and am trying to experiment with some things I'm learning on my course). As I left the hotel, the receptionist ran out of the dining room to check I was ok (no one else was up at 7 am, and she seemed surprised to see me), and on telling her I was out for a run, she exclaimed "blimey!", wished me luck, and waved me off. Such a nice lady!
I did my fasted run, down to Hyde Park (the Leeds version), which is a most confusing park....
Distracted myself from feeling hungry by looking at the flowers.....
...and on getting back to the hotel, the receptionist ran back out of the dining room (still no one up for breakfast) and asked where I'd run, and when I told her, she proclaimed "blimey well done!" even more excitedly than before, and then she asked me if I was ok, and if I needed a drink from the breakfast room. What a kind soul! That's cheered me up all day that has. It's things like that that that remind you what difference little acts of kindness can make to your day ❤️❤️❤️
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