Whilst Europe continues to be battered by late winter storms caused, we are told, by a sudden rise in temperature over the Arctic region, which in turn has pushed colder air further south, we are being spared, for the moment, the worst ravages of global climate change and very much enjoying a fine start to autumn. In the garden, the tomatoes are now starting to finish what has been a fantastic run for them this year, and we have been kept busy harvesting and transforming them into memorable egg, bacon, mushroom and tomato brunches, devastatingly tasty bruschetta, with the leftover toms being made into nearly two dozen jars of tomato relish and chutney.
As an antidote to a world continuing to go mad and which delivers very little else other than bad, disheartening news on a daily basis, this gardening, cooking and devouring of home produce is almost, but not quite as effective as running. Combine the two, however, and a better method for the lifting of spirits is hard to find, at least in my experience.
And so it has proven to be. This morning's outing gave me a total of 33km across four runs this week, not a bad start to the return of MLCMM to the running game. Slow and sometimes difficult it has been, for sure, but I feel now the hard part, i.e. getting going again, is nearly over, and progress from here will be swift and satisfying as running once more becomes part of my normal routine.
I return to work following a spell of leave in two days time. This will be the real test of how well I incorporate some regular running into my work schedule, but at this stage, I am up for the challenge and genuinely looking forward to it.
So, for now, it's all smiles and positive thinking. I'll see what I can do with it.
Forward March
