20m (yes twenty!) but ever so slow

Today I did not run the Morat Fribourg race that most of my mates were doing.

So I dropped the kids at the train station for their day of food in Lausanne with the scouts and had a chat with some of the parents before they finally did the role call and I could set off.

I cut through the wine factory at the station and the fresh grapes being mashed into wine left a heavy smell in the air and perhaps that was part of it or was it just the sheer steepness of the route to Signal.

Mile one 10:35, mile two 15:11 - WHAT????  I was faster than that when it was 30cm of snow on the route.

So resigned to the slowness on the hill and perhaps taking the "Sentier difficile" to the panoramic restaurant was not the wisest move (should have stuck to the road) - I blame the wine.

The morning crew were busy cleaning the tables with a power hose at the restaurant and the bloke with the big motorised blower was cleaning the path.

Came out the back of the car park finding the route marked "Arboretum Lac" and happy days as that would get me nicely to the dam and then down to the lake somehow from there. The section from Signal to the Lac is great and I enjoyed the woods, stunning farmland and ancient farm buildings. Saw one person in 5 miles. Felt good and like the trails were mine.

By now I was flying along at 9 min miles, which felt fast, but really was slow even taking into account the terrain. Hill at mile 7 slowed me back down again.

Just after here the mouth piece of my camel back stated whacking me in the ear. I moved it and it hit me in the neck. Fiddled with it for a mile before it came say in place properly again.

Error in Aubonne as I started heading home, but I wanted to do down towards Allaman and so had a road section I could have easily avoided. Came down through the park where the Aubonne to Signal race starts and followed the path from there down under the motorway at Ikea and over the railway at the factory next to the station. Picked up my Aubonne river route and followed it all the way to the mouth of the river.

Convinced I could connect the private port to the beach I followed a path along the side of the beach and wondered why the bloke on the canoe was giving me odd looks. After 100m I could no longer continue. So I should have headed back but decided to try and cut over the field to the path. In seconds I was waist deep in nettles and brambles. Then I remembered this would never have worked as there is a stream to cross too. Doubled back and mused on how the luck of wearing long socks and running tights saved me. Shorts and ankle socks would not have been good.

That was another slow mile then I headed back via Perroy and the lake front in Rolle. I was shuffling now and could feel the legs stiffening up, so bursts of high knees and high heels kept me from stopping. I was so close the he magic 20m that I added a bit on, but it was not enough so did some wanderings in Rolle to just get it to 20m. Super slow, shocking pace, but the distance was cleared. Seriously large amounts of work to be done before the London Marathon in April.

Highlight of the run was watching the boats in the regatta from various view points and wondering which one my lovely wife was crewing.

Garmin