Quiet running

I went for a run yesterday - twelve miles in total!  It took me only just over two hours, which makes me happy.  What also makes me happy is that I decided to try a new route.  I ran along the towpath that edges the Gloucester-Sharpness canal.  The closest access point is exactly a mile from my house, so I ran there and then started jogging away from the city.  It was wonderful, albeit hard on the stabilizer muscles.  Most of the time, I was running in the rut carved into the ground by all the people who use the towpath, but that rut wasn’t very smooth.  That’s fine, though - cross-training!

What made it wonderful was how quiet it was.  I only passed about ten people the entire time I was out - a number of the people who live in the canal boats walking their dogs, one bicyclist, one other runner, and two guys fishing.  Other than that, it was just me and the birds and the water and the plants.  I ran past teasels and thistles and nettles and cedar trees and brambles and freshly-tilled farmland.  Countless moor hens launched into a frantic, comic half-run, half-fly across the surface of the canal, desperate to put more space between us.  Ducks eyed me placidly from the fringes, and a single heron took off near the apex of my run.  It spattered with a bit of rain, but was mostly dry and not too cold.  Perfect.  I don’t think I’m going to run in the city much at all anymore.