Ephemeral evening runs

Still trying to keep afloat in this busy life, and too late home to make the Monday Not-Club social ride. I just needed simplicity for the evening, so threw on the fell shoes after downing a cup of tea and half a big bag of raspberry bonbons.

It was slow to start, trying to shake off the tiredness of a workday on a vicious climb through the woods, but once it leveled, so did my rhythm and I found myself just wanting to be there, and no where else, for the majority of the run.  It was a perfect evening with transient light, one minute gold and optimistic, brightening new spring growth and glowing through the horizon.  The next, ominous grey, rain closing in, streaming from the heavens in the distance, but never hitting home.  The trails stayed dry as a bone. 

The inside of my ankle started to hurt more, a niggling injury picked up with the change to fell shoes a few weeks back.  I never have problems in the Vibram Five Fingers. Whether the injury is down to lack of stability (particularly on hard surfaces where the studs can't dig in), technique, scrunching my feet up (a bad habit when running or riding) or just shear carelessness throwing my protected feet about, I am not sure.  There is no doubt I run more mindfully, and my feet spread out naturally, in the VFFs.  

I didn't want to stop running though, the pain wasn't that bad, and continued to ignore time, following yellow footpath arrows blindly on a bit of exploration, trudging up steep fields, into singletrack and suddenly popping out onto a main road and letting my feet fall easily with gravity as the tarmac took me back to known trails again. I just wanted to be there, right in the moment, keeping a comfortable rhythm, interrupted only by gates, stiles, and some funny little goats as I cut across their pen. 

On the way home though, I eventually caved in to the cameraphone and grabbed a quick memento of the bluebells.  Every year they arrive, and every year we celebrate their blue-beauty for the short time before it's lost again. Like running without injury.....they do say good things are not meant to last.