A whole loop

Today wasn't meant to be a run day. In fact today I was intending to play squash, but couldn't find an opponent. After an easy run on Tuesday and my swimming lesson on Wednesday I had noticed my knee pain wasn't shifting. So I gave myself Thursday off, no problem as I'd have a parkrun & long run to fill the weekend.
Oh how plans change. I'm working late tonight and at short notice was asked if I could also provide assistance on Saturday morning. Sadly in the world of work, Saturday has yet to be relabelled parkrunday. So I've sacrificed my parkrun. This lead to a juggling of my running plans and a decision to head out this morning if my knee felt adequate.
I spent the evening researching knee conditions (there isn't much else to do in an evening), Internet self diagnosis is always a bit dangerous, but has been correct with plantar fascitis, achilles tendinitis and other ailments in the past.
Thankfully I'm not in a huge amount of pain, just a nagging on the outside of my knee, it appears to be an ITB issue. We're no stranger to this condition, Paula has experienced it and manages it well. After some research on stretching, rolling and taping I feel it is something that won't hinder me too much. I'll just add it to the list of many injuries I seem to acquire!!!

The Run

With daylight available I chose to attack the loop from North to South and headed straight to Pennington Lane. My training plan called for some 3-2-1's but I opted for a general increase in pace and effort to make up for the parkrun.
As I eased myself in I could feel some nagging pain in my left knee & considered turning around, but this subsided as I warmed up. My main cause for concern was cold fingers, I'd forgotten my gloves!!
Visibility was poor as I headed downhill, probably under 50m by the time I was running alongside the main road. After dragging myself up the hill back into Stansted my pace increased further, I was comfortably pushing myself.
After dissecting Stansted I was back on the country lane, heading north once more on Lime Kiln Lane. All that stood between me and home was two more hills.
I kept my posture more upright than usual for the first ascend (I've been prone to leaning into a hill too much), using the downhill stretch inbetween to recover.
I was soon home and happy with a sub 6:00/km pace overall. The rest of the day will be interesting, and gauge of how the knee is holding up.
Mornings like today are just perfect for running. I'm starting to run more without music and it was nice to have a country lane to myself and hear just the sound of nature and a fat lad wheezing along.