Blog: johnloguk

MERRY CHRISTMAS - HAPPY RUNNING!

Yesterday was a funny one. When I looked out of the bedroom window first thing everything was white over with frost. The sun was just rising into a crystal clear blue sky, and it looked bloody cold. But something in me stirred and was desperate to get out for a run before breakfast, yeah yeah, I know, I must be mad!

I had a quick drink of juice and got changed into my cold weather running kit; powerstretch tights, sweatshirt, fleecy hat and gloves. I must have looked a state, but I was as warm as toast and ready for the elements. When I stepped outside the front door the cold air hit me like a sledgehammer, but I knew from experience that once I got going I would soon warm up. But I didn't get very far. I ran to the end of my drive and turned sharp left onto the pavement. I was on auto-pilot, the first couple of hundred yards are pretty much the same wherever I go, so my concentration wasn't very high. The moment my foot hit the pavement I slipped sideways, almost onto the road, and I just stopped myself having a very embarrassing fall within yards of home.

The pavement was like glass, the worst "frost" I've ever tried to run on. The clear sky had also disappeared in the time it took me to change, and everywhere was now cloaked in thick freezing fog. I very quickly lost the urge to run, and hurried into my flat before the neighbours could see my pathetic change of heart!

After breakfast I decided to go for a walk with my camera. The fog was bound to clear soon, and lifting fog always gives spectacular photographic opportunities. I walked round the local nature reserve in the pea soup, no views beyond my immediate surroundings. I headed to the pub for an early lunch!

Mid-afternoon I noticed some brighter spots in the fog, and set off in the car with my camera to resume my quest for nice photographs. The fog was very broken now, and gave some nice shots, but nothing really spectacular. Heading back to town I noticed the tops of the cathedral towers just poking above the fog, but I couldn't find anywhere to get good pics. On a hunch I headed south of town, to a spot where you can look across the river valley to the cathedral on the hill. I had hoped that maybe the valley would be full of fog, with me and the cathedral standing proud above it, and I struck lucky.

The next few minutes yielded some dreamlike photos, with the beautiful 900 yr old building appearing to float on a blanket of gossamer. By now the urge to run was stirring again, and I headed off to one of my favourite running routes, on Lincoln Cliff with views across the Trent Valley. I parked at the top of the hill, with fantastic views of chimneys and treetops piercing a blanket of cloud, and the setting sun creating a kaleidoscope of colours. I often run with a small rucsac and camera, and the next hour was to reinforce why.

The Viking Way long distance footpath runs along the top of Lincoln Cliff at this point, and amazingly I had it to myself. I used the camera as an excuse to run intervals. Fast legs, interspersed with photo stops. I looped up and down the hillside, dropping into the fog, then climbing back out of it. The colours changed every few seconds, it was magical, as though I was running on air, it seemed effortless. Apart from a few dog walkers I hardly saw anyone. Most people were tucked up warm watching the TV, and probably had no idea of the glorious spectacle just outside.

I kept running and taking photographs until the sun had disappeared, and taken with it the last vestiges of colour. As I crested the hill back near the car I bumped into a dog walker. We chatted about the beautiful light show and misty effects we had just witnessed. He lived locally and said that it was one of the best that he had ever seen. Then we turned to go and spotted the full moon rising above the trees against a purple sky, what an encore!

A few minutes later I was home. I grabbed a pint of juice and turned on the TV. "The Great Escape" was just about to start, the shower could wait, and I'm sure a broad smile spread across my face!

I suppose the moral of this tale is simply to "get out there", you never know what you might find. And if you think running is boring, then you just need to think a bit more carefully about where and when you run. There is a vast difference between pounding the streets, with limited views whatever the weather, and running in beautiful countryside during the golden hour around sunset. We'll all put on a few hard earned extra pounds over Christmas, so all the more reason to run further and harder over the coming weeks. Enjoy the photos I'm just about to post to accompany this blog, and Merry Christmas!

by johnloguk on 22:05 on 24th December 2007