My long run wasn’t so long this morning – I was out for awhile – 2 hours 20 minutes, but I only covered 10 miles in that time. The downs were snowy and so I walked and ran and slip-slided about. I liked it. I liked the sudden change, I like it that we live in a world where anything can happen with our weather, although, it is probably quite seasonable for February!
The sky was menacingly black over the sea. I love a winter sea; it carries on as normal with snow on its shores. And I carried on as normal, putting on running kit, and heading out whatever the weather.
I met a lady from Sweden on the corner at the end of my road. She stopped me -we were the only ones about -she wanted to chat about how weedy us Brits are; how everything stops in weather that is ‘poof’ to the Swedes, in Sweden there is snow up to ‘here’ and she went on, ‘we must walk’ – ‘Are you a walker’ – ‘No, I’m a runner’, I replied ‘We must wrap up, put on the hat , the gloves and get outside and walk, if no gloves for the hands put on the socks’ – I showed her my double socked hands ( keeps me warmer than gloves! Fingers are together and all that!) ‘Yes, yes, we did that in the war’ she responded glancing at the ‘paws’ I was proffering her
I liked her too, along with the weather and the winter sea. My hardy Swedish Lady, who was wrapped up well in hat and scarf and gloves and a warm winter coat, out walking looking for a paper at 7.15 in the morning!
I like spaces where anything can happen. There is no format or order when out running in the snow. On the corner of the road, or up high on the downs, there is just space and not many people were in it today. After running in the snowy wasteland for a few miles, I happened upon a photographer, also wrapped up well in a red waterproof ‘all in one’ kneeling in the snow. He was setting his camera up whilst smoking a cigarette which strangely made me feel warm as I ran by, seeing the little red glow…
I dropped off the downs and into Whitbread Hollow where running was easier and the freshness and the cold felt invigorating and my stomach and ribs ached from working hard in the snow.
I am rather liking ‘coming back from injury’ I think that adopting this stance forever will allow even greater freedom to my running, as it has viscerally accessed what I intellectually have known works for me for a long time.
It accesses a sense of having no say in the outcome, that whatever will be will be, I must just be in the moment, in the step and all will be revealed.
This was demonstrated well by some photos my friend Kevin sent me of him on his long mountain bike ride in the same morning snow as me. There is one photo of his bike almost totally covered in snow. The ‘plan’ had been a three hour ride on the downs, and seeing him up there deep in snow, somehow really emphasized for me the need to be with what is, to go at the pace that we can, rather than some pre- decided idea of how fast we will get to where we are going, be present to where we are and we will arrive where we are meant to arrive when we are meant to arrive there.
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