16th May The Running to Athens Programme Continued

The turn around point tonight was only at the entrance to Glenearn House, so there was no sign of the Akropolis just yet. Actually tonight's training was delayed by a combination of heavy rain and a similarly weighty dinner of sausages and cabbage. A new wire fence obstructed the usual route through the wood but this proved to be no barrier at all as I was free of any dog walking duties, unlike the neighbours.
Running through the gathering gloom a couple of Mallards suddenly flew up noisily from under the wooden bridge, putting an additional loading on the heart muscle. Then a group of young Bovines decided to canter along curious as to how another creature could run on only two legs, but their pursuit stopped short at the electric fence. A small bat did its best to get entangled in my hair but it stood little chance. The sausages started to weigh increasingly heavily, but once on the return I seemed to get a second wind attributable to the cabbage. On the way back I seemed to have "taken it to another level"; it was as if the body was doing the running for me, like a well maintained machine, albeit a machine full of gas. I was just left to watch, as if still sat in the house. Fantasy Training for Armchair Mountaineering? The goal of the Akropolis keeping me on track, the sillouettes of trees passed by reflected in the dark puddles of water, and the sound of the trainers on the tarmac beat out the ceaseless rhythm; A-thens, A-thens, A-thens...