After yesterday’s failed attempts to get out running, if they can even be called attempts that is, I absolutely nailed it today. I managed to leave work a little early after a day of five meetings and got myself straight out onto the streets. I seem to have adopted a new favourite route, and this was the one I followed today, a 7.2 mile loop around Mannamead, Peverell and into Central Park before heading home. It was one of those runs where everything feels really comfortable and just clicks. Very enjoyable.
But what made today’s run particularly enjoyable was that as well as feeling physically nourishing it served as a vehicle for some really creative thinking. I am not going to go into details here (yet) but for no particularly good reason and completely unexpectedly I found myself struck by an idea about some research that I could get involved with at work that, for once, grabbed my attention and filled me with an surprising amount of excitement. I spent pretty much the whole run thinking through the merits of the idea that involves me doing stuff that I am not especially good at and which would certainly put me out of my comfort zone but, nevertheless, just felt right. It was a slightly weird fusion of physical effort and mental creation which is, perhaps, the best experience that running can provide.
I got back into the house and, as I had decided while on the run, immediately sent an email to a colleague to make sure that I didn’t sit on the idea and talk myself out of following it up. And when I say ‘immediately’ I really do mean immediately – while my heart rate was still over 100bpm and the sweat dripped off my forehead. Sometimes, there really is no time like the present.
Tim O'Hare 