A brief run

Current conditions are making it very difficult to find a good running route around here at the moment. Below 1000m the recent snow has melted, but mud, rocks and fallen branches have taken its place. Between 1000 and 1500m, snow remains but it is heavy and soft and not exactly runnable. Regardless of the conditions, I was determined to get a 'run' in before the poor weather arrives this evening, so I plumped for a circuit above Ercé that I last did back in October with Andy. The going underfoot was as I had expected, muddy and slippy with rocks and branches strewn across the footpaths. The section of steep ascent was hard going - my legs felt like lead and my lungs protested in no uncertain terms. But I pushed on. I came across snow only from 1000m as I had expected, but it had been tracked by a 4x4, was well-compacted and runnable, thank goodness. I had a welcome pause to take a photo of the view back down to the valley.The stream that I had to cross was carrying a great deal of melt water so I had to wade across it rather than daintily step from stone to stone as we had done on our last outing up there. The run back down on the other side of the valley was more fun and I arrived back at the car having covered the 9.50kms with 400m of ascent in 1 hr 29 mins. I blame the conditions underfoot for the not so amazing time, but I am pleased I got out for a stretch of the legs all the same.