Before Christmas I emailed Molten to tell my contact how my training was going with the two balls they kindly sent me to test. I included a link to this blog to prove I wasn't just a chancer selling the balls off on ebay. As I'd settled on the cheaper rubber ball as the best option (given what the more expensive ball did to my hand last time out) I put in a cheeky request for another couple of balls to continue my training with. I thought that given these balls retail for £10-£12 I presented excellent potential for some cheap publicity for them but I haven't heard a peep from them. I'm kidding myself that my contact is speaking to her bosses about putting together a serious sponsorship package for me but I'm not, in all honesty, holding my breath. Maybe they're waiting until after the Silverstone Half? Anyway, I bought myself a couple of new balls.
I was free all day today between school runs but I had to wait until gone 1pm for it to stop raining. I decided to wear my camelback water carrier and I had to spend some time getting the right pressure into the new balls but when I started off I lost a ball at the first corner, the wind was so strong. I lost control another two or three times on that back straight where it was so windy the gusts were like sticking your head out of a car window on the motorway, making it difficult to breathe. Halfway round the first lap the path was flooded and having had such a battle down that back straight I thought to myself 'Sod this! I'm going to throw the balls in the car and just go for a run'. But the sun came out briefly on the less windy side of the park and I decided to persevere.
There were four sections of path where I had no option but to pick up the balls to jog through flooding and I was chased briefly by several excited dogs at various points. I had to stop dribbling at one point so one woman could catch up with her dog that had done a runner when it saw me coming. She was screaming his name after him in increasing desperation: 'Budgie! Budgie! BUDGIEEEEE!' Yes, it's a stupid name for a dog isn't it? Anyway it turns out he was frightened of the balls so I had to wait for her to catch him. Another (thankfully small) dog took a particularly aggressive tone with me and took a bite at my leg. I stopped briefly to see if I was bleeding but didn't seem to be so I carried on. It's only as I write this that I've examined my leg more closely and noticed the little sh*t has punctured the skin.
At one point on that notorious back straight, the wind gusted so hard that it took a ball out from under me. It blew so hard that it was tricky catching up with it running back up the path. I lost a lot of time there.
I was a little concerned for my hands in the cold and wet, particularly in the top corner where the path was very sandy but I'm pleased to report that both my hands are unscathed this week. Ideally I would've liked to do an extra lap this week but the conditions and the fast approaching school run meant I had to settle for another nine laps. I did 10.26 miles in 1:35:02 which is an average page of 9:16. A little disappointing but it was my first trip out since Christmas and the conditions were the worst I encountered so far. I should be satisfied.
Maybe I'll hear from Molten before my next post?!
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