2013: Tri-ing something new

[marathondan]

A pleasant lunchtime plod along the towpath today, in cloudy but humid conditions. Lovely to be down there among the greenery yet only yards from the urban landscape. Checked my cadence for the first time in ages, while running at what now feels like my natural rhythm - bang on 180, well as close as I could measure, anyway. I'm sure I'll find it hard to maintain that when distances get longer, but it seems a good habit to have acquired for now.

Plenty of walkers and cyclists out at this time of year. All quite polite, too - I got a courteous bell-ding on a blind bend, and a cheery "not far to go" from another two-wheel user. I and a group of walkers were momentarily stopped in our tracks by that Apache Gunship of the insect world, a stag beetle in full flight. It's rare to see this stretch of waterway in use, but today a chap was out in an inflatable kayak, at a pretty leisurely pace it must be said. No sign of the Russian dissidents these days.

I often find myself thinking of running as medicine these days. Often we're not keen or excited about taking our medicine, but we do so because we know it will make us feel better. And it does.