I'm told it was the coldest Easter Sunday since records began and the coldest March for sixty six years - just two
good reasons why this old codger hasn't done a great deal of running of late. Even as I write, snow is still piled a metre high in my garden, though it's beginning to thaw and I can now reach my bird feeders, much to the delight of my little feathered friends. But I'm ashamed to say that running over the past week has amounted to just 14 hard earned miles. On Thursday I donned my Yaktrax and plodded through deep snow onto Castle Hill, climbing over drifts, sinking up to my knees at times, to record just three miles. The road below Castle Hill was blocked (still is) and some local residents were unable to get their cars back home. As protection from the arctic conditions I was wearing three layers, compression top, fleece and windproof jacket (not to mention woolly hat and gloves) which was all very well when I set off but I was beginning to sweat a bit by the time I reached the 900ft contour. As I jogged across the flat summit I was amazed to pass a couple of lads doing press-ups in the snow, one of them dressed in only a T-shirt and shorts. We breed 'em tough in Yorkshire!
After shoveling a way in... |
Sign on Castle Hill side.... |
Lagomorpheus
That's the stile... |
Couched in morning light, herb replete,
Fur feet kissed clean and dew-anointed,
A wild hare gulps one last warming draught
Of soporific sun
In splendid isolation
Of chosen solitude
He shines momentarily
Like living tourmaline
In a sea of rippled green,
Then settles in his sylvan seat,
Droops his black-tipped ears
And sinks to sweet oblivion.
Safe in his sanctuary
Beyond the death-dark door of sleep
That bars the fly fox
Or ripping stoat
He lopes through clover dreams
Where lilting larks
Pour out their paeons
On poppy fields
Of opiate paradise.
Macho guy wearing shorts in Hebden Ghyll... |
On another day we donned just about everything bar fur coats to run up the ghyll for fun and games in the
drifts. A macho man came running down wearing shorts, but he was running faster than we can, and better able to keep warm. It wasn't long before we'd to strap Yaktrax to our trail shoes to prevent us slithering around in the white stuff. We'd planned to run up 'the long wall' to ascertain whether frogs had returned to their breeding ground, but there was no way we could get there through huge drifts. I imagined hundreds of little Kermits frantically trying to reach their pond, leaping skywards up a nine feet barrier of snow, only to come tobogganing back down again on their cold bellies. And I could imagine the looks on their silly faces, and the daft way they talk!
All good fun..... |
Don't bother to get up... |
The snow looks so clean and fresh, I wish I could spend my days running in exciting places, but here I sit at the office desk and that I will have to do for another 12-22 years... unless I win the LOTTO!!!
ReplyDeleteHats off to you and your partner for running in those conditions - you set a wonderful example!
ReplyDeleteMarch was tough for running over here two. Really like that poem - is your anthology still available?
ReplyDeleteBreandán, the anthology was a self-published limited edition volume for friends and relations - so none left I'm afraid. I'll maybe publish more poems on my Blog if they become relevant. Glad you liked the poem, have you worked out the title?
DeleteI love your blog and pictures.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on getting out and running in those conditions.
There´s something about running in these harsher environments that bring out the best in us, and especially you Gordon.
ReplyDeleteDunno Martyn, think I run best in warm, sunny conditions - like yours.
DeleteMaybe we like it where the grass is greener :)
DeleteYou should come over and try running in July and August. You'll appreciate the cold then I'm sure!