We Had A Perfect Day...
It's just gone 9am and I am sitting with my ankle on ice!
Greg has recommended ongoing home care until my achilles looks 'back to normal'!
Yesterday it did a leap to normal ness, the 'lump' on the side of it suddenly reducing massively and the tendon felt slim again!
But today I ran early and it complained a bit at such a sudden demand, straight out of bed ...and so ongoing I will ice Achilles and give him lots of good care!
I am off to Covent Garden very shortly to meet Wendy my oldest friend; we met at nursery school when we were four, and I treasure that Wendy has been alongside me the whole of the way.
We always meet on the winter solstice, in part in celebration of shedding our virginity on that day many years ago!! My plan...
My Dad away on business, the house empty of adult influence...
This meant that me and my boyfriend and Wends and hers had freedom and space to play!
It was a morning I recall...
My sister and her best friend were making fudge in the kitchen downstairs!
But this winter solstice I will be in sunny climes, and so we are meeting a month early!
Our meet up meant an early start for me...but I was awake even earlier than my alarm and so at 6.50 I got up, leaving a sleeping Anadi who did not stir at all.
My exit to run was reminiscent of my A level days!
I was already running up to seventy miles a week as a teenager and as I caught the 7.30am bus to sixth form college -a long journey away - it meant an early start and a precise 'schedule'...
The alarm would go off at 6am, and I was out of the door ten minutes later and back by 7am; then a very quick bath and getting dressed routine, downing a glass of milk as I raced out the door and up the lane to catch that bus.
Wends got on at the next stop and our day together began...
We were inseparable, Dave, the curate in our church said we reminded him of Ursula and Gudrun in d.H Lawrence's 'Women in Love' ...His observation was accurate, although we loved our boyfriends a lot, in truth we were 'sufficient unto each other...'
So today I was up at 6.50am and out of the door by 7am...
I liked seeing the creeping dawn of a winter day, I haven't been running early in my new life for a long time. I padded my way to the park thinking easy easy easy - light smooth - fast didn't come into it!
That first mile, a bit creaky, as the body loosens and awakens, everything achy and slow at first...
I reached the park and circled the duck pond, passing a couple of people and their dogs going in the opposite direction and then a runner appeared in a grey hooded top, we greeted each other as we padded by...
As I jogged I was reminded of Wordsworth's prologue which Wends and I had studied at A level. The image of the poet walking round his lake each morning connected me with him back then, the description he gave us of his morning walks sounding like my morning runs, minus the lake then, but not today!..
This was what Wordsworth wrote that resonated with me...
'My morning walks
Were early; oft, before the hours of School
I travell'd round our little Lake, five miles
Of pleasant wandering, happy time!...'
I widened my loop onto the grass...
My energy levels were a bit low and my ankle was bit stiff - all in all it was a bit too early for my body!
But we, me and my body, jogged along and every time a mile beeped I walked for thirty seconds in hope of a re boot... !
I love the Ho op o no po no mantra for clearing ' I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you'
I found myself reciting that as I ran..
And the day grew lighter...
I ran gently and kept passing my fellow runner in the grey top running the other way around the park; and the circles circled despite my low energy level, I relaxed into the step and into the run and covered five miles; like Wordsworth did... before the hours of school!
I returned home to the little house we are staying in, still dark and sleepy ...
I Stripped off my sweaty kit and was doing naked stretching on the ( rather cold!) stone floor when Anadi sleepily appeared... I carried on stretching and we chatted while he made himself tea and checked his mails, with his naked wife at his feet - on a blanket by now!
The stone floor far too cold...
I caught the train into London and met Wends in the 'Crusting Pipes' restaurant, where we stayed almost all day, a late breakfast leading into a late 'elevenses'.
The sound of the buskers outside as they swapped over marked the passing of the 'half hour slots', time stood still for a Wends and I, but surprisingly soon it was dark and time to go home...
We had a perfect day....
