@Iannodatruffe got me out for a run again. I wasn't confident of being able to run on Sunday so Friday afternoon it was, in a spot of very welcome nice weather after some horrid horrid days (and not just in terms of weather). A run in the setting sun seemed to fit - although it wasn't quite as dark setting out as it looks in this photo. I went up to one of the places I did many of my Couch to 5K runs (before Tim's time on the forum, can you believe it???), Bottom Moor. It's a mixed but mostly conifer Forestry Commission plantation on the road between Matlock and Chesterfield. I've run with finer views than here, although I love the many route choices offered by the grid of rides and the woodland paths underfoot (the stony track in the photo is usually the location of my warm down walk).
This time of year is an especially good time to go, but I chose this for a reason beyond the C25K link.
I chose it because I've been running here for over 10 years now, thanks to the programme. The woods and the rides change through the seasons and they change over time as areas are felled and new trees shoot up. Some rides I used to run are now impassable, there's no trace of the sea of brashings I once had to pick my way through, there's new beauty, there's new ugliness. I'm there without my beloved Google, who I've had to learn to run without and then had to learn to come home to her absence. I'm in minimalist running shoes, the umpteenth pair since I ditched the walking boots during C25K. I'm still in Sainsbury's cotton leggings and t shirt that I had when I started, still with my backpack on my back, but I've switched for today to a Runkeeper coaching voice I've not tried before (no hippos or gazelles, no croissants)
I do my warm up walk, and I do my warm down walk up that track, and in between I run continuously for 30 minutes and I cover just a fraction over 2.5kms, because this is a run for Tim who was always a fan of being sensible, I'm not getting out that often at the moment (this is only my second or third run of the month), my heart is inclined to get its knickers in a twist and hurt and is current being quiesced with beta blockers... and my metaphorical heart is heavy even though I know that's not the idea. The conversational pace is the conversation I'm having in my head with Iannodatruffe, a man I never met and really only ever thought of with the name he chose for himself here. I don't think he ever knew a name for me other than GoogleMe. I'm telling him how I do like getting my feet wet on a run and don't do it often enough, I'm telling him that ooh, actually that *is* a lovely view over that way and aren't the clouds glorious and I'm smiling. I'm telling him that no, not even for him am I doing poncy stretching straight after I get home from this and I'm smiling even more broadly. I'm hoping that he got all the good care my Dad got and none of the bad (and how important our donations are), I'm thinking of his family and how hard they will have worked and how they might be feeling now (very proud all round I hope)
On Sunday, when most people are doing their run for Tim, I shall join in by shutting myself in the bathroom and doing a poncy stretch for Iannodatruffe.
Tim's Run, Mid USA
#Tim's Run in Cornwall
Tim's run in Lincolnshire 🤓🏃
Tim's Run #IanadoTruffe - Totland Bay
