Freedom

The temperature had gone down like a *insert crude simile here*. Ice patches were forming on the pavements and the prospect of pounding the streets for an hour was about a welcome as broken wind in a lift.

 

Due to some last minute faffery, I’d done my intervals scheduled for that night the previous day. This meant I was due an ‘easy’ run with not a lot of excitement in prospect. Like most runners, I’ve got certain routes that I know are going to take me certain amounts of time. There’s the 30 min Wavertree Circular, the jaunt round Sefton Park that takes 45 mins and the LSR route than I can vary between 90 mins and 2 hours. But all of these routes seemed a dull chore last night and I was having an internal argument with myself as to whether it was even worth going out.

“This is silly” I thought to myself. Why was I limiting myself to the same pavements and paths. Sometimes you just need to go out and run, anywhere. So I putting on my most comfortable trainers (Brooks Launch RIP), warmest jacket and classic Ronhill Tracksters (I know what a vision) and headed out onto the streets.

I’d had an idea to run through town, something I never normally do. The slight feeling of elation I got by carrying on across the Tunnel Road junction, instead of my usual left turn, was strange and somewhat unexpected.  I carried on into the night, making sure I was running at a level that was enough to keep me warm, but not enough to constitute any kind of hard effort.

As I descended the hill past the University, that rush of feeling of just running washed over me. I didn’t know where I was going to end up, or how I was going to get there, but the ride was lovely. Running past the people in town, still emerging from their offices at 6.30pm, it made me thankful of the job I’ve got. I love running through the city streets and as I approached the River and the Pier Head, I decided to forge another new path and turned left and headed out towards the marina before turning to climb the hill home.

After just under an hour, I was done, but more importantly I was satisfied. It wasn’t a run to win any Gold medals. it was just a run and it was great. We get so tied up in interval sessions, tempo runs, hill work that it’s easy to forget the joy of just putting one foot in front of the other.