September, departing summer hath assumed

[Charliecat5]

Askwith is already in my heart… Whalley I have not read, but in this technological age that was easily resolved.   And Wow… in the first two pages he has done a much better job of articulating exactly what I was trying to say in my last outburst.  

“Let’s suppose that people replaced the easy, all pervasive lure of the city marathon with the world of birdsong, cloudbursts and mud.  Replaced the structure of the training plan with the freedom of following their nose.  The taped, marked, marshalled roads with the adventure of not knowing exactly where they were going to go.  That, to my mind, would be winning.  No demons, just you and the world, working it out together”.   Perfect. 

As for running… I’ve been out twice since the weekend.   Last night took me up to the top of Kingston Ridge and back.  A familiar run, I know exactly how far it was and have a pretty good idea of my pace (poor).  Tonight was about exploring.   The original plan was to run from home to the top of the golf course and then head onto Malling Down to head and back through the valley past the allotments and home via Pells.   However, it was heading towards 7pm, so having offered to pick up la famiglia from the station I decided to drive to the station and run from there.   Best laid plans and all that… they wanted fish and chips for tea… so we drove to South Street which thus marked the start of my run. 

Now usually before I run up Chapel Hill I have already had a mile or so warm up.  Running it cold was somewhat challenging… made bearable by the remarkable views from the top.  By the time I had reached the top of Malling the sun had had time to set the clouds on fire.  “I haven’t got a camera, but I have a memory now, a memory I can carry around for ever”*.  This is what I call running.

In terms of running naked… so far, so good.  I have no idea how far I ran tonight.  I’m guessing it was around 3 miles, but I can’t be sure.

In terms of health, I am still struggling.  Every time I try to put the engine under load it is as though the air filter is blocked… the carburettor simply cannot get enough oxygen.   Very frustrating. 

On the way home I passed a man carrying a palm tree in a shopping trolley… that’s not something you see every day.

*Boff Whalley