It was warm again outside this morning but I didn’t realise, until I started running down the road in my shorts and t-shirt, that it was also drizzling. Warm can quickly turn to cold when wet is involved, so I was happy to get into the woods where it was only leaves that were falling gently around me.
I’ve been thinking about the subject of goals over the past few weeks, thanks to a series of different tangential contexts (articles, books, discussions, courses etc) and I spent the run thinking about the implications for the students I work with. Over the past few years I’ve been encouraging students to think more fully about their goals, using a simple framework, but I have some new and more profound thoughts forming in my head… I think that even I have been underselling how critical goals are.
The run wasn’t long enough to resolve this challenge and it was plenty muddy enough to require a good deal of focus elsewhere, such as in the grip department. In the summer I tend to avoid puddles, but once there is more mud than not-mud, my preference is to run straight through it. Trying to skirt around the edges inevitably leads to running on sloping ground, which along with the increased number of direction changes creates a much greater risk of slipping over… into the mud!
The only downside is soaking wet trainers, muddy legs and the occasional lapse of concentration regarding other obstacles, such as brambles looking to steal my hat!
According to Strava the run was 7 miles, completed in 64 minutes, a respectable 6.5 mph.
