No time for pottering on Penny Pot Lane!

 Looking out of the bedroom window before retiring to bed last night the icicles outside the window had formed to over a metre long.  As suspected from crackling sounds in the night, by daylight they lay shattered on the balcony.  Witness a rise in temperature!  No need for the treadmill then today ; which Pat finds just as tiresome as I do!  

 But with safety being our priority we would need to head for a  fairly quiet , snow free "B" road ,  wide enough to "see and be seen"  by any Saturday morning shoppers.  
    I remembered a 10K we ran which was organised by the Army Foundation College this side of Harrogate. An out and back course on the very straight and slightly undulating Penny Pot Lane.   A bit of a drive but hopefully worthwhile.
  North Yorkshire had done their bit clearing the roads and all went pretty much to plan.   I was trying out for the first time  a Gore Windstopper SoftShell jacket in orange,  designed to get me noticed by fast oncoming traffic  plus of course keep me warn and dry in the close to freezing conditions.
  The tights also incorporate Windstopper laminate back and front providing excellent protection for the upper leg.  No excuse for getting in a few miles then.
  If you don't have a Gore Windstopper garment in your locker don't delay writing to Santa if you want to stay warm and dry in these freezing conditions which look likely to continue according to  all forecasts. 
The lane proves to be four virtually "dead straight"  miles from where we parked to the College which Pat described as "boring, but not as boring as the treadmill"!


 From my point of view it provided the near perfect venue for a 2 x 2 mile tempo session largely dictated by the undulations of the route.  
Warm up miles of 9.12 and 8.49
were followed by 8.07 and 8.08 (slightly downhill). 
Turning at the College ..... 8.44 and 8.56...back uphill.  
8.07 and 7.50 with a jog mile to bring the heart down. 
So 9 miles in total.  
  I can see myself back on this lane again for a 2 x 2 mile session as it's a fast stretch of road  and being tree lined there is wind protection; except the warm up and cool down would be from the Fewston res. car park. 
 Hopefully there will be less snow around than there was today; fortunately there was none underfoot.