About Running

Running on a regular base is something I have started only recently, and so I am still in the process of discovering new aspects of it.

One thing I realized from the start was how much more detailed my perception of the topography of the area has become.

Even the slightest gradient of slope, be it up- or downhill, makes itself noticeable when I run.

Of course, to a certain extent, I was already familiar with the same effect while cycling (my bike is not one of those with dozens of gears so that you can tackle anything without much of an effort; we are talking a more than 30-year-old racer here which really makes your legs WORK), but not in such detail.

Apart from that, I enjoy the way running helps me get rid of the restlessness I so often feel. My mind ceases, at least for a while, to spin on overdrive (as it sometimes does), and gets a rest while my body does all the work and thus has almost all the energy directed to where it is currently needed.

I don't like forced interruptions, for instance having to stop at a road with heavy traffic and wait until I can cross it, and I have even daringly run across at a red light (those of my readers who know me personally are allowed to raise one or two eyebrows now) when it was possible.

At this time of the year, the gardens and fields are so full of scents and colour and sound from the birds, that it is simply a pleasure being outside, and running past those gardens and scented hedgerows is something I truly enjoy.

Take last night, for example.

It had been raining on and off all day, and was rather chilly. But at some stage, the sun decided to break through the clouds, and there was even some blue visible.

And I so wanted to be out and run!

So I jumped into my running shoes and went.

One tour all the way around the perimeter of the biggest park my hometown has to offer, plus the time it takes from my house to get there and back; all in all, 55 minutes of running.

About 30 minutes into the run, it started to drizzle.

Then it stopped, and started again. But it didn't bother me, because it was really only a drizzle and I was heading back anyway.

When I came up the last slope before the almost even stretch to my street, I was rewarded with the sight of a rainbow.

It was beautiful!