Tuesday 21 August 2007

Orange Lights

I have been running. And here are my runs..

14/08 Tuesday 4.38 miles / 10:09 pace - a good lunchtime run to Parliment Hill with Iain. All the other runners we see in Hampstead are so po-faced and posh looking. I feel like pushing them in the boating lake. Sometimes.

15/08 Wednesday 5.22 miles / 10:07 pace - the best run in ages. Back home in Chelmsford up the private road with Morgan. An evening run. Cold gusts of light rain. The orange glow of the street lights and some leaves on the ground. Autumn is coming and I feel fine. Let's write this summer off and get on with Christmas. Fantastic. I could have run all night. I felt 100% great. Loved it.

16/08 Thursday 4.33 miles / 9:47 pace - lunchtime to Hampstead with Iain. Hard work. Hot.

19/08 Sunday 7:08 miles / 10:07 pace - early morning run in Chelmsford up Beehive etc. I wanted to do 10 miles but needed to get back to bring the wife breakfast in bed. Not a great run. Chelmsford is hardly the most pretty place but this morning with the detritus of V festival and the usual litter and rubbish stuffed and scattered everywhere it was especially grim. Sweet wrappers, soft drink cartons and crisp packet after crisp packet, like flies buzzing around my head.

20/08 Monday 4.47 miles / 9:38 pace - lunchtime on my own to Abbey Road and then to the Heath. I felt strong and good on this run.

21/08 Tuesday 4.62 / 9:37 pace - lunchtime to Brondesbury with Iain. A good run that started with my legs and knees aching and creaking and ended with us both flying down the road, sprinting back to the gates of the factory. Iain reckons he was in the zone. I was just behind him.

T

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Abbey Road eh?
Did u run across the Zebra crossing?

Anyway with all this running do you feel fitter generally or are you mainly doing it because u enjoy it?

Fred said...

Well Morgan, I started to run as wanted to get fitter. Then I quickly found I enjoyed it. Then I found it started to change other aspects of myself in a positive way.

I sat on the train at Liverpool Street today and watched the hundreds of people board my train. Everyone had been at work all day. This is a commuter train leaving the City of London at 18:22. All kinds people; all shapes, colors and creeds boarded the train. As the train got closer to departure people began to hurry to find a seat. The train was filling fast but everyone was polite and yet distant from each other. The women were on the whole immaculate, the men, with a few glaring exceptions were clean and tidy and confident. Everyone settled down and got out ipods, novels, magazines and laptops and settled into their own reverie as we traveled into Essex.

I found myself feeling somehow pleased with what I saw and considered. These were good and decent people and I started to consider myself amongst them and within society; I am now well and fit. I realized one of the many facets of my life that I can define myself amongst these city traders, PA's, IT people, amateur yachtsmen, golfers, video games players and readers of Harry Potter, etc was as a runner. And this felt good. It felt good as I had transcended myself from last year. I had, maybe, gone some way back to what nature intended me for which is not to spend all my time on my arse but to be active, to sweat. To excerise my physical self as well as my mind. And that is what I have done. And this is what I intend to do. Keep on running.

Dr Sheehan maintains that all sport, but specifically running in his and my case, triggers a return to a state of play. A state long forgotten in most adults. Play is our ultimate goal; it is our innocence and gateway to the world. It will also be our heaven (one hopes).

Fred said...

Go here for more info on Sheehan www.georgesheehan.com

I am reading 'Running and Being' at the moment. It is a rather 'enthusiastic' book and he is rather passionate about running. But in essence he is 100% correct.

Anonymous said...

Can't say i find running a Spiritual experience. I'm too busy wondering whether this is the time my heart explodes.
Although I do find our conversations, between gasps, interesting.

Fred said...

I didn't say spiritual did I ? Running is not a spiritual thing for me.. In short I run cos it makes me feel good physically, mentally and it makes me feel good about myself..

Anonymous said...

No George Sheehan thinks it's spiritual; you know the guy whose website you asked me to check out who is aka "the spirit of our sport" (running)

Fred said...

Well. Not really. But anyway...

Anonymous said...

Toby Have you actually read the book?
This is how it is described in the book itself;
''Sheehan describes his program for fitness and joy, sharing with the reader how the body helps open up our mental and spiritual energies.''
Another book by Sheehan is entitled
''George Sheehan on Running to Win: How to Achieve the Physical, Mental and Spiritual Victories of Running by George Sheehan ''

Enjoy your break