An Oystercatcher ?

At least that's what I think it is after some googling.

If you thought cyclists were geeks, nothing on birdwatchers! Oystercatcher

Brrr!

It was baltic stepping out the door at lunchtime, its not often its that cold but it was today. I was shivering all the way to the gate and the firt 5 minutes or so of running I was still shivering. It doesn't make for a smooth stride.

I wasn't sure how things were going to go so I planned to take a "run as I feel" run today, head down to the beach and run along the sand. I got to the beach and the bliddy tide was in, properly in so that scuppered that one.

I ran along the prom, into the wind (bit of an error in route choice there) and it was absolutely freezing and grey, everywhere. It did look to be brightening up over Winter Hill though. The cold air was really affecting my breathing.

I was running ok so I decided to continue down to the edge of Lytham then run back along Clifton Drive, that should give me about 7 miles. I don't know what happened when I got onto the section from Ansdell to Lytham, maybe the prom changes direction slightly. Whatever, it seemed to get even colder. It was then a trade off between running fast enough to stay warm but not so much that I was having to breathe cold air in hard. Not pleasant, I was getting a headache and earache from the cold even though I was wearing a buff.

A bloke was running in the opposite direction to me wearing shorts, his legs were bright lobster red and very cold looking, think he should invest in some tights.

The difference was noticeable as I turned onto Clifton Drive as it is more sheltered and the wind was behind me, I speeded up a little here as I wasn't fighting the wind.

A very chilly 7.02 miles at 8:50 average. Quite pleased actually, its the pace I'm supposed to be doing longer tempo style runs at anyway.

One of the advantages of the tide being in is that I saw lots of birds feeding at the waters edge, I don't know what they were (will find out) but they were quite nodescript until they were flying then they had impressive white markings on the wings.

£600 for an injector!

At least its only one not all of them. I did some Googling yesterday and had convinced myself it was going to run into the thousands.....still a lot of money. I have continued my winning ways with cars and the oil level light came on in Jez's car this morning, not the big red engine destruction imminent oil warning light but still. Just been out to the local garage to buy some oil, will hopefully locate correct place in engine to put said oil at some point this afternoon.

Part being ordered tonight so looks like I will be cycling to work tomorrow rather than running as Jez needs to be in work for 7am and I'm sorry but I can't face being in work that early.

Better not be icy.

Car

The garage have decided that there is a problem with the injectors!!!! Gah. I can't remember if she said one or more than one injector but they were "getting a price" and would call me back. Sounds expensive...

This was yesterday and they didn't call me back needless to say and I'm still too scared to ring them and find out how much this is all going to cost.

Feeling Better....I think

Fingers crossed. I had a bit of a pathetic day yesterday feeling sorry for myself, ended up at working at home as couldn't face staying in work. Annoyed at missing out on doing something in the sunshine.

I woke myself up a few times in the early hours of Tuesday morning convinced I had just been sick down the side of the bed! Very weird, I hadn't of course but I was feeling very queasy so maybe I was just about to? Who knows.

I kind of starved myself a bit yesterday as couldn't face much but around 3pm I had a bowl of pasta and things started to improve from then on.

I didn't bring my kit to work but am thinking I may head out after work for a short run to see how things are.