Janathon Day 26: Cycle - 15.6 miles, Time - 1hr 10min, Weather - mizzley but getting colder
Boy does it look bleak. This is what a lunchtime run looks like around the back of the industrial estate (actually it is next to the Buncefield depot). It requires a certain amount of resolution to get out, so fair play to these three. Also fair play to me cycling along trying to define the concept of pleasure (in other words asking myself why I am doing this).
As a colder wind comes from the north and the mizzley rain wraps everything in damp felt, it is very difficult to feel uplifted. Yet we go out.
As part of the negotiations we have with ourself, before we leave, we say it will only be a quick blast, soon done, then a box will be ticked, a schedule fulfilled, and importantly we won't have another reason to think we have let ourself down. Reluctantly the sluggardly side of us agrees and we start. At first the sluggard feels vindicated - it feels uncomfortable and thoughts stray to questions about the shortest allowable distance. But as we settle-in, for some strange reason, everything changes - it starts to feel good.
How did that happen? Why is this? Surely it should feel better in the warm? But it doesn't. After about fifteen minutes we start to feel more alive and it is refreshing to feel the weather on our cheeks.
When we finish the sense of satisfaction is far greater than the effort would otherwise warrant.
2 comments:
Absolutely. It doesn't always look like pleasure. Or even feel like it. But ultimately it is.
Strangely, I kind of enjoyed my run today through rain and sleet. Even the slight sting of the sleet, as you say, made me feel alive.
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