Sunday, September 18, 2011

Sky 30 and time to taper

Oh boy was I lucky with the weather for my last long run on Sunday! I was out by 6:30am and it felt autumnal - fresh and bright. I was a bit chilly for the first 10 minutes until I warmed up but then it was perfect weather for running.

I plodded for around 18 miles and loved every minute of it as there was lots to see; buzzards circling overhead, a herd of red deer, a weasel, horses, cows, sheep, blackberries to pick from the hedgerows, a lane I hadn't run down before to explore. Heaven.

At one point I passed another lady runner and she stopped and asked me how far I was running and then commented upon my Alzheimer's vest. I explained that I raise money for ARUK and she thanked me. Apparently her husband suffers from a rare form of dementia and he can't speak or understand speech any more. He is only 62 and she said that life is hell for them. My heart went out to her and it made me even more determined to carry on.

The hours flew by and I was back home for some well-earned breakfast. I'd only been home for about 15 minutes when the sky went black and the heavens opened. It rained until mid afternoon so I was very lucky indeed.

Now it's time to reduce my mileage and let my body recover from all the hard training before Liverpool.

It was a very dramatic and moody sky last night.

Big black clouds swirled downwards as if to engulf the trees.









As the sun disappeared over the horizon it shot bands of gold and apricot at the oppressive clouds as if to try and hold them back.









The clouds darkened in response and continued on their mission to blur the edges of the skyline.

2 comments:

Shan said...

You know, I have to say again that I really admire you. I haven't been on the internet much in the last year, and every time I come back, here you are carrying on, enjoying your life, keeping your cause in mind, and finding good things about your running every day. You come across as a very composed and serene person. I don't know if that's the truth about you or not! but it's how I see you. It's very restful coming here and reading about your miles and your personal bests and your fields and horses and sunrises, trees, birds, windows of churches...

Thank you Susie.

(And I think you might be right about the pockets!)

Susie Hewer said...

Hi Shan, how lovely to hear from you and thanks for your kind comment. There have been many traumas throughout my life and, whilst I'm not sure I could be described as serene, I do find peace and comfort in the natural world. I suppose it's about noticing the small things and taking pleasure from them.