05/01/26: some days you just feel good… - Portishead, UK

04/01/26: deputising for Mike with Simon & Matt - Portishead, UK

03/01/26: to parkr… well, most of the way, before turning round… 😄 - Portishead>Pilning/rtn, UK

02/01/26: quiet out there - Portishead, UK

01/01/26: parkrun #281: happy with that having reccied the course yesterday [OT: 20’54”] - Three Brooks, UK

Yes, I was cautious to avoid slipping. And yes, steep downhill steps aren’t fun when snowy. 
But the biggest challenge today was a niggle I’ve been carrying since mid-January. Only for over a month it didn’t affect my gait; nor, in all likelihood, my pace. Unlike today. And yesterday. And Monday. 
I’ve read enough runner talk about p1r1f0rm1$ to resist the urge to google it. Although I have looked up stretches for it. And am doing them. 
That’s most likely what it is. So not something that will disappear overnight. Must keep things easy for another ten days, then hope for the best. Or take Barcelona easy and shift my focus to Manchester, four weeks later. 
I must also remind myself that I was hardly 100% ahead of Rotterdam. I didn’t know it then, but I had a torn calf. Got better near race day, when I felt it over the last ten miles. So, even if this miraculously disappears, I’ll be expecting it to return on the day. 
There were miles today when, even whilst focusing on staying upright, I would normally have sub-9’d, maybe even sub-8’d. Not today. Now for Radox (bought extra supplies on the way home*), stretches - and ten easy days. Maybe all in single figures. 
All this, ironically, on the day I hit sub-20 on the BMI front: 19.9...
...oh - and credible HR stats. Might have something to do with the fact that I used a different strap. Think it’ll be the other one making its way back to Garmin, after I’d ordered a replacement not realising the reason for the failure to connect to my FR410 was... er, incompatibility.

* finding the Radox: 1'; paying for it at a self-service kiosk: 1'; trying to get my glove back on before giving up: 5'