That was a cracker!

Felt generally 'off' this morning. Didn't know what to do with myself. Lovely day. Should make the most of it. Pah. Andy is recovering from an unpleasant feverish/coldy spell and said he fancied a walk up to the Cabane des roses after lunch to try and clear the lungs a tad. Ah, now then, thought I, that could be a plan. The idea of testing myself and getting in some hill training up the zig zags to the cabane started to form. It's a gentle(ish) gradient for most of the 4.5kms, starting at 1200m and reaching 1560m and I wanted to see how much of it I could run. We covered the first 750m at a brisk walk to warm up and then I set off at a gentle jog. Things were feeling good, underfoot it was perfect, I kept going. I surprised myself at just how far I was able to keep going without feeling like I was going to die! I covered the 4.5kms with 360m of ascent in 38 minutes. I could probably have pushed myself harder and no doubt will on the next occasion, with the aim of eventually getting below 30 mins. Andy and the pooch also seemed to enjoy the outing which was topped off by a fast, fun run back down which included some gratuitous, corner-cutting 'cross-country' for a change. The mild weather of the past few days has melted the majority of the snow up at 1500m as the photo below shows, but more is forecast overnight tonight