Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone, wherever you are!
I was supposed to be going rowing this morning, downstream through a lock to the next town and have breakfast with some buddies and then row back. But . . . guess what . . . they all wimped out because it was a little bit drizzly! Pathetic!
Actually, it was a bit like Strictly Come Dancing, as I wanted to go rowing and so did one other, but two definitely didn't, so "Head Judge Len" got the casting vote with emails flying to and fro, and eventually it was decided that we would all go for a coffee instead later at our local coffee shop.
Ah ha! I thought, well actually, despite having got up early AND donned all my warm rowing gear, (which seems to take an age) I can now change into my lighter running gear (I don't possess any winter stuff at the moment), go running instead and meet them at the coffee shop later. Brill! 
Every cloud . . .
I went upstairs and put on my 3/4 length trousers, oh - my one-and-only long sleeved run top was still damp on the airer from being washed yesterday, so I put on a runner's T shirt and my long sleeved rowing top, added my beanie hat and woolly gloves and away I went with Laura on my arm.
With C25K + podcast already downloaded, I went off for my first ever run since graduating. OK, it did start to rain quite heavily, and it had obviously been raining in the night, because the puddles were everywhere. I decided to go along my usual route over the bridge where there is a tributary into the Thames, spotted a swan way upstream, then as I approached a sharp bend, 6 dogs came towards me that were being exercised by the local dog walker who suddenly appeared from around the bend on her bicycle. One of the poor dogs was sporting a lampshade (LOL), and then coming up the rear was the DW's husband on his bicycle too. She had a dog on a lead which was pulling her along. 101 Dalmatians sprung to mind, was she in fact Cruella de Vil? Anyway, once the hounds had disappeared, I felt happy to settle back into my stride. I got over the pretty little brick and flint bridge which goes over a little stream, and on to the second little metal bridge (not so pretty). Here, the second stream was running much faster, it looked very angry today, I thought. Mind you, it must have rained a lot in the night, there were huge puddles everywhere! Having run on over the second bridge, I got further than ever before. There was a long straight that I began running along, but it was a little bit uninteresting, in the drizzle, as there was nothing of note to see. Fortunately, after a little while, Laura informed me I was half way. Oh goodie, I can turn back
This is when it happened. I had gone over the unattractive metal bridge, back over the pretty brick and flint one, and there in front of me was an enormous puddle. I thought for a split second, new shoes, yes, pretty shoes, yes, waterproof? Probably not, but where's your sense of adventure, Flossie? Go on, you know you want to, so I did. I ran through the puddle and laughed out loud as the mud splattered up my shins. How old DO you think you are? How much FUN do you think you're going to have? Well, to be perfectly honest, I feel a lot younger than I am and I am willing to have as much fun as I can on my runs
And then, another thing happened . . . some of you may remember the older gentleman who never said good morning to me, despite my beaming smile and greeting him and he always looked rather miserable . . . well, I met him again this morning, a little way past the puddle incident, so I thought, I had better not say good morning, as he obviously doesn't want to engage in any pleasantries. Though I did look at him and I guess I must have automatically smiled at him. He actually looked at me and said "Morning", oh how happy was I? "Good morning!" I returned, in an overly jolly way, because I was so surprised that he had spoken.
Then my mind wanders, is it because I am now a graduate, at last? Is that why he has said "morning"? Don't be silly, he's not to know, is he! So why has he decided to say something, after all this time? Then, I think I have it, I have been accepted by him. I am obviously not a runner who has just appeared for one day, never to return, I am a regular runner, who might often pass him for weeks, months, years to come, I do hope so.
So, as you can tell, there were lots of things to make me happy today, the coffee was great afterwards with my friends, but the best bit . . . had to be . . . running through that puddle!
Happy running everyone!
W10 (!) - Now I'm a graduate who should I go out with?
I love my tiny runner 😍
Beautiful morning for a tourist run, 🎶And I Ran, I Ran so Far Away🎶
