The old dog bares his teeth!

Well well well. Let me talk you through my day. Was supposed to be up at 6 this morning to get ready to leave at 7 as was supposed to be taking the students to an educational visit to Bristol Zoo, workbooks to complete and everything. Actually woke at 0650 out of routine as I had set my alarm wrong. One huge rush later I was on my way to meet the students in the pouring rain. By the time the coach was half way to Bristol I had made the executive decision that a day in the zoo was not going to work so after a bit of sweet talking the students were happy as they had £17 in their pockets that would have gone on entry and the driver was persuaded to take us to Cribbs causeway for some retail therapy instead. It was clearly the right decision as we were all soaked through just walking the 150 metres from the bus park to 'The Mall' (there words not mine.) So first things first me and my two colleagues decided it was time to find a cafe and have a pot of tea and a slice of cake which actually turned into a beautiful warm scone, clotted cream and strawberry jam. At 10AM it was pure decadence I know :-) Anyway it was at this point that my little voice started saying 'you will be home earlier than usual maybe you shouldn't have a rest day after all?' After a walk around the shops and the identification of the new Tim Burgess, The Streets and Neil Young autobiographys and Stone Roses: War and Peace book to add to my list for Santa it was time for a Nandos for lunch. Halloumi cheese and portobello mushroom pitta with spicy rice and side salad consumed with pleasure and I was certain I was going out when I got home. However then I had the two hour coach journey back to contend with which, as I am sure you will appreciate, was extremely tiring so was not really feeling it when I got home. I am too old, ugly and experienced to let that stop me though, I knew it was just a case f get home, don't sit down, get changed, get out and have a plod safe in the knowledge that by the time I got home from 6 miles tea would nearly be ready. Yes my life revolves around food, really whose doesn't? I was not execting much from the run though, 6 miles and I would be back within an hour was all I could be sure of and with that I was out of the door. And that was it I just ran without concern for pace as I find myself doing more and more. When the garmin beeped for mile three though I glanced at the time and thought ooh I must be going at a fair (for me) pace and before I knew it the 6 miles were over and I had actually done 6.2 as I knew I was shifting (again for me) and wanted to measure my 10k time. Well it turns out I came in at 49.11 minutes with each mile progressively faster. Wasn't even that hard, yes I worked harder than I have been but it has given me a huge boost as I start look forward to December and the start of my VLM plan and what will be my first speed work since last summer. If I can get within 5 mins of my 10k pb with minimal effort off absolutely no speed work at all maybe just maybe there really is life in the old dog yet?