meditation

[glaconman]

Five runs in about 2 weeks. And it seems as though my appetite for putting one foot in front of the other, at a moderate pace and in an almost controlled fashion, has returned.

I don't try and plan or control it these days. I just go with it and hope it lasts long enough to allow me one or two milestones; maybe another Half Marathon in a half-decent time.

My major obstacle to fitness has been my beloved '61 Enfield. Sat in the basement it's very difficult to ignore in the mornings. The sound of a decelerating single-cyclinder engine is music. And getting your shoulder into some country roads the perfect start to the day. Do you know what I'm torqueing about?

So the bicycle has been relegated to a redundant bystander.

I'm just nibbling crumbs compared to some people here who manage to grab the whole loaf and rip-off a hearty crust. (BB is the current inspiration.)

But on Saturday morning I managed a 10-miler. Not at any great pace you inderstand; but there was some climbing in it. And I'm planning to do the infamous Simon's Seat next weekend. A route I shared with the late-great EG once-upon-a-time.

And it's meditative, at least. Maybe that should be today's definition of running: a form of meditation for those of us who lack the patience to sit quietly in the same room.

As Robert Louis Stevenson said: "the great affair is to move".

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

And it's meditative, at least. Maybe that should be today's definition of running: a form of meditation for those of us who lack the patience to sit quietly in the same room.

As Robert Louis Stevenson said: "the great affair is to move".

Well said mate, that's it exactly!

Nice one Centurion, like it, like it!

[glaconman]

I failed to clock-up a single mid-week run.

But did manage an hour of 5-a-side; competing with men from a different generation.

And I managed to get-up Simon's Seat early on Sunday morning. I took the whole experience in my stride whilst it happened. But looking-back it has to be one of the most enjoyable runs I've ever completed.

In the past I'd always tried to get to the top as quickly as possible; often in the wake of runners who exceeded my fitness. Consequently I would feel destroyed at the top and struggle around the rest of the circuit in a state of advanced fatigue.

But this time, amongst different runners, there was an air of sensible pragmatism. And this allowed me to keep enough in reserve on the way-up to stretch my legs across the upland peat-beds; descend with some level of abandon and even pick-the-pace-up along the final river-bank miles.

The weather was sublime with blue skies, Simpson clouds and a thick mist hanging in the valleys below. And we made it back before the temperature started to get uncomfortable.

Ascending, traversing and descending. If running is indeed meditation then it's these kinds of landscapes that we need to run through in order to remap our mental terrain.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Keep it up and don't forget that camera of yours.

Shame about the bike. I remember that a certain ride up Mont Vertoux encouraged me to get back on mine.