Why I Run

People often ask why I run. Or if I really enjoy it - I guess because of the societal assumption that exercise is always about weight loss or self-sacrifice rather than a positive choice. I have to admit I don't always enjoy every run (I hated most of my London marathon training for example...) but I do love running in a way I never anticipated. It's one of the few things that calms my mind and makes me feel connected to the world.

One of the things that I never expected to happen when I first started running was the love I've developed for running in the rain. Particularly at the moment as it's been such a long hot summer and running is a such a slog in the heat. We were in Wales for the Bank Holiday weekend and on Sunday I ran one of my favourite routes, from Llangollen to the Pontcysyllte aqueduct and back. I love running along the canal in Llangollen, once you're out of the town itself it tends to be pretty quiet unless it's a really lovely day - particularly heading towards Pontcysyllte. On this day it was almost empty with the heavy rain deterring all but the hardiest of walkers and narrow boat day trippers.

It wasn't a run that started particularly well, the torrential rain meant that getting out of the house was a struggle. I had a ten mile run planned in preparation for a race next weekend but I was already prepared to cut it short if the weather was too unpleasant. Andy came with me for the first part and when we got up on to the canal, half a mile in, the wind was whipping the rain into our eyes and I was already soaked through. It felt like the rest of the run was going to be a long one... But around a mile or so in, just as we passed the foot of a cloud-shrouded Dinas Bran castle I started to get into the rhythm of the run. Starting with Andy stopped me from sprinting off like I usually do and by the time he turned back I was settled into the right pace. I'd planned to put some music on when I was alone but it was too wet to fiddle with my phone so I just carried on, getting used to the soundtrack of my own breathing and my feet hissing over the soft surface of the canal towpath.The canal was essentially deserted by this point and I felt like the only person in the world. That lasted until about 4 miles when I met what I assume was a stag party of about 20 blokes in fancy dress on mountain bikes headed the other way - presumably off to Llan for a bank holiday Sunday pub crawl. "You've picked a good day for a jog" one of them said to me sarcastically. I just laughed. I was having one of the best running experiences I'd had in ages in one of the most beautiful places in the country, I was happy with my life choices. Not long after I reached the point where the canal towpath meets the road and splits, one half going over the Pontcysyllte aqueduct towards Chirk and the other path heading towards Cefn Mawr. I took the Cefn route, heading away from green trees into the post-industrial landscape surrounding the village until I reached the 5 mile mark and could re-trace my steps back towards the aqueduct and the canal.

Distance running always feels a lot like meditation to me and ten miles is possibly my favourite distance to run. It's far enough that it demands you think sensibly about pacing but not so far that your body seriously starts to protest. Your body shifts into the rhythm of the run and miles pass by almost without noticing. I've run variations on that out and back down the Llangollen canal so many times but its such a scenic route that it never really gets old. Even in the gloom of a rainy day, the hills loom between gaps in the trees, rainclouds swirling around the tops of the conifers that line their slopes. The river wends its way through valley below, the golf course that lines its banks deserted. The occasional hardy walker with a soggy dog grimaces at me in greeting and looks baffled when I cheerily smile back. I barely notice my watch beeping the miles as I fly back towards Llangollen, feeling simultaneously grounded in the landscape and weightless as my feet skim through the growing puddles on the towpath.

Coming back into Llangollen feels a little bit like coming back up for air after being deep underwater. After the near silence of the rest of the run, the canal curves to run parallel with the road about a mile out of town, and the sound of car engines drowns out the sounds of your breathing. The narrow boat moorings come into view and I have to dodge several people looking lost, my feet suddenly loud on the path when the surface changes to tarmac. Just before the wharf you get a beautiful view over the town and river below and I catch a brief glimpse of some of the stag party from earlier cycling over the bridge. I leave the canal at the wharf, running into the noise of the bank holiday tourist rush. Llangollen is a tourist destination and today is no exception, the hubbub of people sounding almost deafening after the silence of the towpath. I dodge through them quickly and dart up a side street to avoid more entanglements. My legs start to feel tired but I'm only half a mile from home now. I push on up the hill towards my parents' house, the sounds of the town once again dying down. My watch beeps one final time - ten miles done.

Stuff I've Enjoyed

Reading:
I'm about halfway through The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot by Robert Macfarlane which is essentially a book about walking on ancient paths, both in the UK and beyond. It's a book richly descriptive of both the landscape Macfarlane passes through and the people he meets along the way. Reading it is very much making me think of the way I relate to the world around me and the landscapes I pass through, and what they have to tell me about both the past and the present. It's certainly influenced the way I wrote the above... It's also a very relaxing book so I'm reading it at a unusually (for me at least) pedestrian pace - hence only being halfway through!

I also read N.K. Jemisin's Hugo Awards acceptance speech - and you should too. Jemisin has won the Best Novel award at the Hugos (basically the Sci-Fi and Fantasy version of the Oscars) for three years in a row for each of the books in her Broken Earth trilogy and she is the first person to do so. The fact that she is a black woman writing in a formerly very white, male, eurocentric genre makes this doubly groundbreaking. The Broken Earth trilogy is also one of the best SFF series I have ever read and some of the best literature being written today. You should also read the books as well as the speech...

Listening to:
Buffering the Vampire Slayer is my absolute favourite podcast - the premise is that the hosts Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs watch and discuss every episode of 90s hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Each episode finishes with a song recapping the episode in question and it's honestly just brilliant. I'm a huge Buffy fan anyway but I think I'd love this podcast even if I wasn't that fussed about the show. Jenny and Kristin dissect the show through a queer, feminist lens but also unpack some of the more problematic aspects of the show. This week's episode was a stand out for me - the episode being discussed was "Pangs" - an episode from mid-way through the show's fourth series which is definitely one of the most controversial episodes of Buffy. The story is set at Thanksgiving and the episode's "villain" is a vengeful Native American spirit. Buffering used the episode to unpack some of the more problematic aspects of the whole episode concept and spoke with Coya White Hat-Artichoker, a Native activist, to discuss their feelings and perspective on the story. Instead of the usual song, the time was used to play a speech by Standing Rock tribal elder Phyllis Young protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. It's a fantastic podcast anyway but I'm particularly inspired by how Jenny and Kristen have used their platform in such a positive way this week.

Doing:
I did my very first escape room last weekend - slightly late to the party but better than never. It was so much fun! We went to Breakout in Chester whilst I was back home last weekend and did the "Cursed Carnival" room which was less creepy and more fun than it sounds. I now cannot wait to do another one!

Might pop out for a run now actually... See you next time! C x