Halycon Days

Running Wild

Some days just make you happy, and today was one of those. There had been an overnight frost but the sun had started to warm the still air and the visibility in the low angled light was amazing. There was only one thing to do and that was to get out and run. I have had the best start to the year since 1994, 300 miles already and I am running most days although the pace is not what it was. I decided to wear shorts for the first time this year, ditch the gloves and hat and take an iPod instead. It was on shuffle and after REM's 'Man on the Moon', some of my son's rogue dance music raised the tempo and without any great effort I was moving faster than all year.

It was spring already and the powder blue skies with puffs of white cloud seemed to encourage nature as well as runners to come alive.  In the forest the dew was visibly evaporating from the birch buds, there was the smell of resin rising from the conifers, and large flakes of dried bark from the timber operations were crunchy underfoot; they all made the trail seem quite magical. A red squirrel scuttled across in front of me and I ran deep into the heart of the forest shown above.

As I began the second climb of the day, the boardwalk over a boggy section was still covered in hoar frost.  The last of the trees that had been blown over in the gales had been removed and sawdust was scattered on the woodland path. The descent is down a long muddy section that I had slithered and fallen down several times this year but the mud had morphed into plastocene which caressed my shoes as I descended down to the river.  Normally I seldom meet another runner on these trails but today I had passed 7 other runners, all women. It was Mother's day and, as well as the sun, escaping the kids and the prospect of being taken out for a meal must have enticed them to enjoy a morning run to release their endorphins and whet their appetite.

After 7 miles I was still running freely and as I reached the village I stretched to my full 1.83 metres and made a long sprint to the co-op for the paper. I felt that I could have beaten both Usain Bolt and Prince Harry. The Stones sang 'Its all over now' as I glided back to the house and sadly it was. Every 100 or so days you get days like today when your body, mind and nature are in complete harmony.