I now need to be covering some serious distances in training. So I have a new plan: running out from home doing a bit of Coventry Way and then running home again. So Saturday saw me running out through the city centre, up Warwick road, through a little bit of War Memorial Park, down Leamington Road and out to Stoneleigh. Stoneleigh to Stareton, Stareton to Bubbenhall (private sheep, bull field and flooded quary, Bubenhall to Ryton, Ryton to Wolston (snow drops); maps 5 to 8 completed. Then it is down Brandon Lane (Ronaldo grafito) to the A45 and up London Road and Abbey Road to Esporta where the car is waiting and Jan has just completed her palates class. There are no navigation problems on the Coventry Way. I feel that my first circumnavigation was like going to the lectures, and now going round without maps is like doing the essays. On April 18th I sit the final exam.
Dipping into War Memorial Park there are plenty of runners around. I wondered whether there was an event on, or maybe it is just peak training period for all the spring and summer races. It has been a week without rain which means the countryside is beginning to dry out and although there is still some mud around it seams nothing compared to last week’s South Devon experience or the previous weeks of Warwickshire mud. 
Elsewhere there a many more people walking themselves and their dogs on the footpaths, a sure sign that spring is on its way. There are also swathes of snowdrops in the woods on the edge of Wolston. That village also seems to be the centre for women’s football. Last time I ran through there were two girls matches being played, today there is a grown-up women’s match. 
I am pleased to say that, although progress across the uneven countryside is inevitably slow, once I get back on tarmac for the final stretch I can pick up the pace again. I take this as a reassuring sign that I have the stamina. Exactly how much I am not sure, but I have some. 30k completed at a pace of 6.40/k.
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