Queens Drive 5km

This morning I headed out at 6am for a 5km run around Arthurs Seat hill in Edinburgh. It got light maybe 5.50-ish today, and I'd been awake for a while, so i took advantage of a dry, sunny morning. The run itself is a tough one, half a mile flat, then a long uphill section, flattening out a wee bit, steady rise again, and then a steep downhill followed by a loooong steady downhill back to the carpark. The path is almost exactly 5km, and I've done it numerous times over the years.



This morning, it was windy, and by the start of the ascent I realised the wind direction was not in my favour. I ran for a short part of the hill, then walked - I then put in a couple more run intervals, but found it a struggle, and largely walked on the uphill sections. I started running again, run/walk rather, on the middle bit and slight uphill, and then just before the downhill started, I got moving. I did the whole of the downhill (plus flat bit to finish) without walking, and in my fastest ever mile, sub-10 minutes and everything! I felt like I was flying, lmao..... Admittedly, with the uphill walking, my overall time remains about the average for the times I did this same route in 2012, today in 38:45, but I know I can improve and quickly get that time closer to my current flat 5km time, and as soon as I crack running up hills, I'll be unstoppable.

It was pretty cool being up the hill so early in the morning - loads of rabbits, and what seemed dozens and dozens of different species of birds. I wasn't running with headphones, so I got a hell of a lot of birdsong to accompany me on my run. While I still don't enjoy the actual running part, it's runs like this morning's which make me believe that one day I will. (Just don't tell anyone I said that.)