It's all about the Little Russian!

And last night it certainly was!  As a footie lover and someone that follows a particular team it is nights like last night that are the reason you go through all the disappointment, heartache, mediocrity and frustration of being a fan.  For those of you who don't follow the beautiful game, my glorious Gunners stunned Barcelona, arguably the best team in the world at the moment, and beat them in an amazing night at the Emirates.  It was the first leg of the Round of 16 in the Champions League and Arsenal claimed a famous victory, coming from behind to beat the Catalans 2-1 with goals from Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin.  RVP equalised David Villa's first half opener with just 12 minutes left on the clock and then the Little Russian scored five minutes later to put the seal on one of the truly great evenings at the Arsenal.  I know it's only "half-time" and it's going to be exceptionally tough in the second leg at the Camp Nou, but they can never take last night away from us.  It was simply awesome and I was so proud of my team. Well done boys and fingers crossed for the return.
Anyway, this is a running blog and there are better descriptions of the match elsewhere (Click here for a link to the excellent Arseblog) so back to the matter in hand.  Thanks to the woeful state of the London Underground it took me an hour to do a journey that normally takes 15 minutes tonight, and consequently I missed my train home.  By the time I finally got back it was way too late to do my proposed 7 miler so I decided to compromise and do the Tadworth Court Short course 3.63 miler (Click to route) as a tempo run instead.  I started off feeling a bit tight in the chest for some reason and had to stop for a quick blast on the old puffer after about a mile, but that could have been just because it was a bit cold on the lungs out there tonight.  After that everything seemed a bit easier and I powered round (well, in my definition of "power"!) in 33:25, or a season's best pace of 8:38!  I was really pleased with that and was really glad I'd forced myself out the door and hadn't just given up on the evening's session as I'd been tempted to do.  I'm going to have to do my 7 miler tomorrow now I'm but looking forward to it and feel encouraged by tonight's pace.
I entered another race today too, the "Down Tow Up Flow Half Marathon" in July.  I did the "Up Flow" route last year with mixed results (loved the race, very disappointed with my 2:15 time), so hoping to do better this year when they run the "Down Flow" direction.  For more details see the race website (Link to race details).  Catch you later! (S)