Running Through The Forest

   A couple of days ago, because I almost couldn't help myself, I ran.

Where the run through the forest begins.

The scenery.

   For the last couple of weeks, I'd been taking 5K walks, principally through nearby Warbler Woods here in London. Long walks have been as much as I feared I was able to do while in the midst of trying to fully heal this p-fash I've been dealing with the past two or three months. A couple of times on these walks, I've resisted the strong urge to break into a run. Yesterday, however, I didn't resist.
   I did the same 5K walk through the woods but this time I ran the second and fourth kilometers.
   It was a wonderful feeling!
   I felt the occasional twinge in the heel near the beginning of the run phase and briefly thought to myself man, you're blowin' it big-time here but persevered and soon all was well. I re-stretched and iced after the run and the heel was mildly uncomfortable but, as the evening wore on, it began to feel better. I knew the big test, however, would be this morning.
   This morning, life is fine! The heel feels no worse than it did yesterday morning and I'm hoping this continues for the rest of the day.


All along the trail

   Today, there will be no running, no matter how good I feel. As much as possible I'm going to try and get back to only running every other day. This was my normal routine before the p-fash hit and it was only after I started increasing the running workload that the heel became an issue. More than likely I'll just head out for a long walk after work.




 Go deep into the dark forest...

   I love running through the forest! You have to pay a little more attention to where your feet are landing but, at the same time, the scenery is much nicer and the shade helps a little too.


...or go left and then run along the edge of the forest

  

My wife and I were watching "The Last of the Mohicans" a couple of weeks ago and there are several scenes in which Daniel Day-Lewis, as Hawkeye, is running through forests, jumping over logs and streams, down little valleys and back up again and I remember thinking to myself that it looked

Forest on right, houses on left

like so much...fun! I'm sure there is a visceral part of me that remembers doing things like this when I was a kid. On an even deeper level, I imagine that having evolved from hunters might tend to stir in us at least at some level of primeval instinct the urge to be moving swiftly through nature. I've even thought a couple of times that it would be cool to be carrying a rifle or spear with me as I ran through the trails, apart from likely needing to talk to the police when I popped out of the forest! All I really know is that running on pavement in the future just won't be quite the same!

And then you're back to roadrunning!

   Happy and healthy running to you all!