I needed a Turner prepared to lash himself to one of the cliff top benches, as J M W was lashed to a boat's mast to paint Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth, to record today's run. I set off for a variation on the Seaford Head run, along Chyngton Road and up the hill to South Barn. Here I went along the path to Coast Guard Cottages, as seen in the film of Atonement. The view was wild, the sea rough and boiling at the foot of the Seven Sisters. Beowulf might have flung himself into just such a sea to fight Grendel or Grendel's dam. In the half-light of a late winter afternoon, leafless bushes had been flattened by years of wind to resemble the backs of angry cats. Running was tough but not impossible until I turned into the wind. I toiled up the hill from the cottages: I had thought that the declivity here might be sheltered, but it was not. When I reached the top of the cliffs I could barely stand, never mind run. I had to hold on to fence posts for support. Thinking it unsafe to spend to long near the edge, I decided to turn inland a little, and came back along the paths of the golf course.
The effect of the wind may be seen in the graph below. Look at the spike in pace after the two and a quarter mile point.
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