Urania was the muse of astronomy, and I honour her today as I watched the sky assiduously during yesterday's long run. The day began with sun, but by the time I arrived in Eastbourne and dropped my daughter for her dance rehearsal, it had clouded over. I set off from my usual place, a few yards downhill from the start of the Beachy Head Marathon, and set off once more up that steep incline, then over Beachy Head and down to the base of Belle Tout, and then, all of a sudden, the sun came out.
I followed two other runners up the track to the lighthouse, then down to Birling Gap. At the bottom I returned by the route the marathon takes, a slight detour inland, so the feet of hundreds of runners don't erode the cliffs too much. Back over Beachy Head and, once more, a quick run along the promenade to the lifeboat museum and back. At 9.75 miles, this is the longest distance I've run since last year's Lewes Downland Ten at the end of October. I shall keep increasing the distance over the six weeks till the Hastings Half Marathon.
