Waving at passers by

It was another glorious morning and Jack was in a romantic mood, back-lit by the sun and softened with a hint of mist.  It was one of those mornings where I too would have been happy just to stand in the sun and wave my arms around.

I certainly wasn’t in the mood to run, but heh-ho, here I was.  Heading East from Jack and Jill, I passed Ditchling Beacon, where I paused to stretch and then headed for Blackcap, stopping on the way again to take a photograph of a persuasive sign saying ‘don’t stray off the path’… the words chosen for the purpose were ‘Firearms in constant use on this farm… for your own safety stay on the public footpath’.  Sticking to the middle of the path, to avoid any doubt, I ran on and arrived at Blackcap faster than two weeks ago… which is amazing bearing in mind the stops and how slowly I felt as if I was running.

From there I backtracked a little and dropped off the Downs to Plumpton Agricultural College and headed North as far as the racecourse, then West.  The houses around here are just beautiful and the little hamlet of Streat is charming, with the sound of its parishioners singing their hearts out emanating from the church.  I had spooked a horse with an old lady aloft two weeks ago and then had to pass them a second time ten minutes later… the horse was clearly unsettled by something, possibly my bright blue gilet.  Today she greeted me as I paused to let her pass, just in case, but the horse walked past nonchalantly.  ‘ I’m not scared of you, you silly runner’ it must have been thinking.

Then I was back onto the old faithful track which goes North from Westmeston… I really love it because it’s been here since Roman times and I suspect that not much has changed since then.  When I got to the railway though, I just had to stop and walk for five minutes as my mind was still not really in the run.  It’s a powerful thing, that thing in your head!

There’s a path that runs along one edge of Ditchling Common that I think is magical and I ran down it today.  It’s a narrow path along the treeline that winds between old trees and and through thickets and seems almost enchanted.  For some reason I felt my strength return and I blew along it effortlessly like the wind.

Back out on the Common I had another pause though (bit of a habit today), ate a Tracker bar and then jogged home the last ten minutes.

Overall, particularly in the psychological department, a really awful run, which was reflected in the speed at 5.69mph.  But it was 12.3 miles which is almost 20km, so it was not all bad.  And nothing could take away the fact that, with the Autumn leaves turning shades of red and gold, it was a glorious morning!