On bluebells and apprentices

I was a million per cent ready for this run. If anybody had got in my way I'd have eaten their teeth and made a paste of their gonads because I am, without doubt, the greatest runner in Europe and I win every time I go out.
Terribly sorry about that; 'The Apprentice' is on tonight. I must be getting into 'odious twat' mode in preparation.
I was in Sleepy Lardy-Legs mode at 7 this morning when I went out for a 5 miler around the lanes near Staveley. For the last two days we've had nothing but unremitting, wind-lashed rain; lying in bed last night all I could hear was the gales rattling the roof slates and the raindrops machine-gunning the windows. But this morning all was calm and the world had a refreshed tranquillity about it. It was as if the whole countryside was sleeping peacefully after being scrubbed clean. I was so stiff, having not been out since Sunday, but the magic of running took over (as it almost invariably does) and for the last mile I was running little fartleky intervals from tree to tree and gate to gate. It was great.

Smile rating 7.5/10

These few weeks are probably my favourite, from a botanical point of view, of the whole year. The verges are bursting with life and there's a short period of time when the bluebells and cow parsley are both flowering equally vigorously. This magical combination makes the lanes look like they're edged by frothy rivers.
All in all, a good run. Mind you, I've been reading Running Bear's terrific blog (check it out) and I'm going to have to get my arse in gear (as an Apprentice would say) and up my training if I'm going to get round Garburn in 4 weeks time. Thanks RB for the kick-start (and could you drop in a recipe for the muffins?).
Let's hope git-weasel Ben gets the big finger tonight...