After the excitement of the bouncing running shoes,( last post)...I felt in need of a slightly gentler run on Good Friday morning. Just go out, run and do what I love... take it all in.
A beautiful, beautiful morning, a cloudless sky and the sun already showing a welcome face.
I got kitted up, same shoes, I need to get used to them.. and out into the morning. So quiet as I completed my warm up, no traffic sounds, and schools closed for the Easter Holidays.
Just for fun, I decided to take Stamina with me... a gentle run, no pressure really , taking me up the lanes and into the fields.
After using the C25K+podcasts quite a bit now, I am fairly familiar with them, and it's great, fitting them in with, or after a timed run... So... just taking a gentle pace for the first ten minutes and heading off up to the fields. I think, just think, I just may be getting the hang of the whole running thing.; the initial pace was comfortable and no effort, a quick smile at the"... lift your heels in a cycling motion..", which always makes me giggle.. As I passed the houses, lots of curtains, shut tight against the day, the gardens with newly planted Primula in every colour, planted in perfect symmetry and as ever, the daffodils, nodding a cheery good morning as I ran past. Crocus everywhere, replacing the now sleeping snowdrops, with more purple than any other colour. Make the most, I thought...rain forecast for the weekend!
Happy thoughts to run with too...daughter and son in law coming for Easter Lunch on Sunday, a reasonably leisurely week, maybe gardening, no art class, so catch up paintings.. my birthday next weekend and a few days in the tin tent! Lovely.
Lots of people in my head too, graduating Friday or very soon..people doing their first Park runs or races for Charity, ( yamiskoi did her run, check her Regent's Park post out it is absolutely wonderful.. she did brilliantly!) Loads of folk out there this long weekend running at all levels, it is a great feeling to be part of that unseen web on a sunny day.
Down to the village and up the lane and into the fields. The shoes have less bounce now, so, less like a demented Tigger and more like an early Easter Bunny! The track to the field was firm underfoot, the cropped hedges are showing the first spiky bristles of new growth...the winter wheat is showing green and the massive, majestic Oak has, what look suspiciously like big buds on the twig ends. I headed right out, across and to the other lane on the far side of the three fields. Gentle running and a very steady increased pace now. easy breathing right over to the far gate. Passing on the slope of the hill ,the pond with its memories, a single bush showing white lacy blossom, breaking the sombreness of the dark foliage of the bushes around the water. At the far gate, I turned to retrace my run.
High, high over head, the mewing of two buzzards. wheeling and circling lazily in the clear air above. A slow-motion aerobatic symphony, performed effortlessly by raggedy winged maestros. No time to stop and stare, I decided to run the perimeter of all three fields...steady and easily does it. A lone dog walker, in the far distance at the edge of the field, a single pheasant starting noisily and grumpily from the bushes. This is a side I have never run, but know my son in law runs it regularly; along by the bushes bordering the railway line, and then around the three fields, maintaining a good pace; I decided to head up the hilly field and out into the lane! This was harder going; tractor tyres have left deep ruts, and wanting to keep to the edge of the field, it made running almost impossible. Even the Tigger, Tiger feet were not helping! I eventually made the lane and an easy run down the hill.
Stamina had finished, but I carried on running...down past the cottages, curtained still, against the morning ,the hedgerows beginning to show glimpses of green in the early sun, the gardens, prolific with the hopefulness of Spring and to the Station. I stopped here and a quick check showed 6.2K in 40 minutes. I was happy...gone further than intended though. A slow walk home, the sun warm on my face and a relaxed day to look forward to.
"Fast enough to get there, slow enough to see."
Simple pleasures, gratefully taken
