Juneathon 2013 Day 2 - Forget the exercise

Juneathon 2013 Day 2 - Run - 5.2km, Time - 30m

Blackwell - Main Hall

The reason I had to run so early yesterday was that it had to be fitted in before driving to the Lake District. I am away for a couple of days diversion and a change of scenery.  Today I woke up in Kendal and the morning’s run was  alongside the river Kent. It was perfect: the morning sun was out, the air was fresh but not cold and beside me the water flowed fast and clear. Yes everything was perfect except  me. Once again I struggled and it  was much harder than it should have been.  But I refuse to dwell too much on that and have no intention of turning this blog into some sort of misery memoir.

Instead I will talk about the pleasure I had during the day: of walking round Blackwell, the Arts and Craft house designed by Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott, and then visiting the house of the great theorists who prepared the way for that movement: John Ruskin. Brantwood (Ruskin’s house) is one of my favourite places. It is not in anyway an example of good architecture (the exterior is a jumble) but the location overlooking Conniston Water is beautiful, the garden is bountiful, and the interior is a monument to all that Ruskin achieved (I just don’t know how he managed to write and do so much). It is a good place to sit and think ... and then eat (as there is a really good café ).

Blacwell - overlooking Windemere

Transmitting an Enthusiasm

The best teaching works by passing on an enthusiasm for the subject - showing that it is alive. That's why I like Beanz's latest post.

I was listening to a radio programme on fanzines where there was a nice example of how this can happen in an informal way. Dave Haslam described how he produced a small fanzine called 'Debris', which he used to sell to people queuing to get into gigs. In the mid Eighties Raymond Carver made his first visit to the UK where there was so little interest he was only interviewed by three people: someone from the Daily Telegraph, the Times and Dave Haslam (hard though this is to believe). When he was selling the issue of Debris with the Carver interview (which can be read here) someone asked him what he meant by including an article about a writer. "Read it and see what you think" was the reply. The next time he was selling the magazine the same person made a point of coming up to say how good the article was and show him the T-shirt he was wearing, which had a picture of Raymond Carver's on it. In other words Carver was his new passion. Dave Haslam thinks this is one of his finest achievements.

With running, if we can pass on our enthusiasm in the same way then we have similarly done something good. In my family my wife runs as does my sister and brother-in-law. I take no direct credit for this but my evident enjoyment of the feeling you get from running might have helped.

For Beanz, and all the other good teachers out there I will pass on this quote from John Ruskin:

There is no wealth but life. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest numbers of noble and happy human beings; that man is richest, who, having perfected the functions of his own life to the utmost, has also the widest helpful influence, both personal, and by means of his possessions, over the lives of others.

Unto This Last essay IV, paragraph 77 (1860)

Victorian Virtues

Yesterday there was a Channel 4 programme on John Ruskin. I was really pleased about this and hope there will be some revival in interest in his work.

I previously mentioned that my favourite house in England is Brantwood, which used to be the home of John Ruskin. Partly this is because of the location (the view overlooking Coniston Water is sublime) but more importantly it is a celebration of the ideas of one of the great Victorian thinkers.

I can remember being told, in a school lesson 40 years ago, that the bookshelf of any educated artisan of the period would contain works by John Ruskin and Thomas Carlyle. It was a strange throw away remark, just one sentence when a lesson went off-topic, but it has stayed with me all this time. Somehow it snagged a number of romantic ideas about idealism and seriousness, the way this could be embraced through all levels of society, and faith in the possibility of change, so that the quality of life could be improved for all (i.e. a better society was possible).

When I look out from his study, over the Water, to see the fells change colour and shape with changes in the light, my appreciation is heightened by all my internal associations. One of his great ideas was that you should learn through the close and direct observation of nature. But there is more to it than just standing and staring.

Strangely this brings me back to running and the justifications I make to myself for spending time on an activity where my only realistic aspiration is to be mediocre. Part of the fascination is a slightly Ruskinian idea of exertion making you feel part of the landscape - part of nature. It happens in two ways: you can observe quite closely and notice things that might otherwise have passed you by; also you are very aware of the workings of your body. External and internal nature. The balance varies with different types of run. When you are slow and easy there is more chance to look at the landscape, more a sense of being at peace with it. When it is more of a struggle you look inward and can notice nothing about you surroundings.

Today, for me, it was all inward looking. Having had a long break, eating too much and doing little exercise I have to go back to the start and build back up. In the mean time it feels like hard work. I will just have to content myself with the idea that hard work is also a Victorian virtue.

Rediscovering Childhood and John Ruskin

I have recently come back from a weeks holiday in the Lake District. It rained most of the time and I did not do quite as much running as intended - but that did not matter. Being by waters, surrounded by fells, is enough to lift the spirits. We were in Grasmere, the heart of the romantic lakes, and everything felt cleaner and fresher. Pleasure came from just being outdoors and active - even if it was wet.

I did sufficient running, and even managed to fit in a long run, but that is not the point. For a running blog I have a rather a subversive message - "sometimes you do not need to run". Sometimes it is better to go searching for waterfalls and recover the sense of surprise you had as a nine year old city boy who saw mountains and fast running streams for the first time; who wandered over the open landscape to find a river, hidden by trees, and watched in wonder as your father skimmed stones on the water, whilst you could only make them sink with a great plop.

I don't really know the full reasons for spending so much of my time running. Part of it could be some futile attempt to recapture a little of the feelings I had when younger - when I could run, cycle or move with ease, without thinking. I know that all my effort really achieves is an understanding of how much stiffer I am and how much longer it takes to recover but all the same there is a linger sense of continuity.

However I can make that link far more directly by visiting places and seeing again the sights with fresh eyes, skipping around without any great purpose. In other words just being on holiday, or finding some other way to free up my thinking.

Running is good but there are other things as well.

During the week we also visited one of my favourite houses in England - Brantwood. It was the home of John Ruskin and displays the range and depth of his work as well as where he lived and worked. The views over Coniston Water are stunning and endlessly change with the weather and just add to the sense of contemplation.

I am always in awe of the achievements of Ruskin, the scope of his ideas and how many of them still seem current. His views had tremendous sway on the public opinion, with his books, with those of Thomas Carlyle, forming part of the library of people of all social classes. Try as I might I cannot think of any present day figure of comparable stature.

I look at Ruskin's study, his collected works and the engagement in important issues and think -

Running is good but there are other things as well.

However I then look at the pictures of Ruskin in his later years and see a shell of a man beset by health problems. I then think -

Running is good it helps with all of those other things.