filthy....

With hindsight, perhaps a day when the whole country is enveloped in a thick, toxic fog and air pollution levels have reached a record high wasn't the best day to go for a run straight after I'd cycled back from work....

Still, my running (and now also my cycling) buddy and I hopped off our bikes and set off up a hill for a 4.5 mile run.  How bad could it be, right?

It's been a bit hazy all day.  I often see mist when I cycle in to work alongside the Trent, but this usually burns off during the course of the day.  Today, it just never quite went away.  Nottingham hasn't exactly been covered in the sort of saharan dust as other parts of the UK, but it's been an oddly grey day.  Now, clearly that wasn't going to stop me going out for a run, so off we went....

Still, I was confident.  I was okay to start with, more troubled by the heaviness in my legs from cycling home from work into a headwind, but after a mile or so, I began to see that I could see my breath as I exhaled... in spite of the fact that the temperature was well above freezing.  That can't be good, right?

Still, the Daily Mail has apparently known this all along.  They ran an article today (**warning** link to the Daily Mail!!) that claims that running can shorten your lifespan.

Well, if the Daily Mail says so.....