There was heavy rain forecast for midday so I was cutting it fine leaving at 11am.
Over the past week I have been working my way through a stack of my existing books, searching for new angles and insights on creativity, innovation and organisations, ahead of my Creativity in Enterprise & Team Dynamics classes this autumn. This morning I was buried in Bounce by Matthew Syed, trying in particular to figure out how to spark some intrinsic motivation in a class of second-year graduates. I’ve not cracked it, but I sense that the assorted cognitive inputs are being connected my head and that insights are bound to pop out in due course!
In view of the impending rain (and the fact that I’m apparently not as recovered from my earlier malaise as I’d hoped) I decided to repeat the short route from last week. I set out with a good pace and just as quickly realised that I had forgotten how to get onto this new route. It actually involves running down a driveway to the junction of Janes Lane and the road that goes across the common… the great thing being that there is an island in the middle of the main road so it’s possible to cross one stream of traffic at a time. On the other side there is a short-cut through the tress to start and end the circuit.
My pace started to slow with the slight uphill gradient and I reflected that whilst it was somewhat overcast, it was also warmer that I had thought, even under the trees. The loop takes the main path down to the entrance to Ditchling Common Industrial Estate, goes briefly onto the road (simply to avoid the stinging nettles and brambles that generally rip my legs up) and then heads down the private road towards West Wood.
At the edge of Wivelsfield I turned left and ran back towards the start of the loop, but I was so deep in thought by the time I got there that I ran past the cut-through and had to backtrack. I then returned down the driveway and back through the woods to home, managing only a half-hearted sprint towards the end.
5.75 miles took exactly the same 55 minutes as last week, average 6.25 mph.
I checked BBC Weather to find that the rain was now scheduled for 2pm, so I showered, breakfasted, got out to cut the grass and even managed to squeeze in chatting to my neighbours before cutting the green and the verge further down the close. I composted the grass cuttings, put the mower away and had literally just stepped inside when the heavens opened and buckets of rain started bouncing off the ground!