At last, return to running

I haven't run for ages. Months, I don't know how many. I have lots of excuses:

1. my knee was hurting when I ran
2. I didn't have time to do the physio exercises I had paid money to have provided to me
3. The weather was too wet/cold
4. I had no time
5. ...

I think I had just got out of the habit. I think of myself as a runner but lately I have been kidding myself. So yesterday morning, when it looked bright and fresh (in between the hailstorms, that is), somehow I remembered that I'm a runner and actually went out and ran. Only for half an hour, pretty slowly, but it wasn't too hard, and nothing hurt, either then or today.

I remembered some things I'd forgotten:

• that I'm always glad when I'm out, however little I wanted to go
• that running is my least painful form of exercise (I hate most forms, especially team games)
• that it gives me time to think, if I want to
• that it also gives me time just to be, outdoors, and not think - maybe more refreshing

More than anything, I find myself musing about how different my intentions and my practice are when it comes to being outdoors. This blog has really clarified that for me, almost a year on from my first post. As in most things, the habit of noticing what's happening provides an impetus for change, and I'll be musing more about that as this blog reaches its first anniversary.

Catkins at dusk

Couldn't resist a walk along country lanes as dusk approached. This tree, with its seasonal crop of catkins, hangs over the River Dane near Swettenham, and when I was last here, the area was mobbed with squealing swallows hunting for flies above the river. A little different today, but it won't be too long before the swallows are back.

Magpies and buds

Glorious blue sky, and on the beech tree, the buds are now russet red, waiting to appear. Frosty this morning, but surely Spring can't be long now. I can't remember a winter I've been so glad to see the back of.