Banned..

Met SS, at the usual spot - treadmill in front of the glass window, overlooking the golf course and Newbury racecourse....not that we could see much, as it was a very foggy morning!

Down to business....after a couple of weeks 'cheating' by running along, we thought we ought to 'toughen up' and get back to the serious stuff of power walking, especially as its less than 2 months before our first race!! (Ridgeway 40).

So, the treadmills were put into 'hill' mode, the levels were put onto 'killer'  mode and off we climbed for 30 minutes.....the iPod had been updated with Bon Jovi's greatest hits which was quite inspiring....until old Jon started singing 'have a nice day'..... which, when you are hot, tired and sweaty, is not really appropriate and what you want to hear.....

The legs could tell I hadn't done a hill for a while, and in the words of Shakespeare they 'protesteth too much'....still are!

A circuit of weights finished the session off, increasing by 5kgs seemed a good idea on Monday, but was hard work after a hill, but we did it, before wobbling down the stairs for a coffee and recuperation.

By mid-afternoon, the legs were sufficiently less-wobbly to take Golda and Mali for a run around Greenham Common, a half loop, so only up as far as the pickle factory, across the hard-standing to the control tower, and back to the entrance....and it's probably the last time I will take Mali up there 'off lead' for a while as she has been 'banned' by the RSPB!!

We were running along quite happily, when, coming across the hard standing, Mali had a sniff, and recognized that she was near her favourite smelly/muddy/boggy watering hole.....and off she shot....into the sunset......Golda and I legged it (literally) after her, rounded the bend, came up over the incline....and saw Mali in the pond....in a zoned-off 'red' area, surrounded by RSPB peeps with  binoculars! Who proceeded to tell me that 'red' areas were 'no-go areas' for doggies, as they were breeding grounds for lapwings, greater spotted somethings, and fluffy wotsits, and could I get my menace OUT OF THE POND? - well, I did try...really, really hard!
So, I was extremely mortified, Mali was extremely Muddy....and we are now banned!!