First Run of the Year

It’s cold and dark and I’ve lost my car.  I left it on the same car park that I always do but in the darkness that’s harder to find than I’d first imagined.  It doesn’t help that the sign for the North and South car parks have been turned the same way. Momentarily disorientated, I stopped to try and work out a way back around the park to where I needed to be, the unlit path skirting round the edge of the lake was my only option.  Luckily for me, my guess was right and within minutes I was back on track and closer to the relative warmth of my car!

Why I ended up running through the darkness

When I set out running I didn’t give much thought to the time, 1530 has become the middle of my day recently and I’m generally too busy to notice what time it starts getting dark.  That time today was 1600 with visibility quickly diminishing by the time 1615 came around.  It’s amazing how somewhere you have visited countless times during your childhood quickly becomes foreign and difficult to navigate in darkness.  In reality, I ventured less than half a mile in the wrong direction before I realised my mistake and turned towards the right car park.  By this point in my run I was satisfied, a few extra yards didn’t matter.

The new year brings with it new hope and aspirations although I am a firm believer that people add meaning to events which happen in life not the other way round.  Yet, it’s hard to deny that there are few better opportunities to start afresh than in the new year*.  Running is something I have fallen in and out of love with a handful of times now; I am quickly learning that to get myself out of the door there has to be a reason more than running itself.  This new year I am looking for a new 10k race to aim towards!

*If you have a goal which is achievable and you genuinely intend to make a concerted effort to get there!

The weather and appearance of the park made conditions feel more like an autumn than a winter evening.  Leaves of all shades lined the paths on which I ran.  The temperature was mild rather than cold, so much so that I ran without gloves which is a rarity in the winter months.  The park was still, save for the handful of dog walkers and a couple sat on a bench at the top of the hill.  It’s easier to enjoy running when you are surrounded by peace.

My first run of 2017 done, I can’t wait to get back out for the second!