relentless forward motion north on the river thames

most runners will know about relentless forward motion. mostly it is a phrase used for the miles near the end of a race when all you want to do is pit one foot in front of the other until the finish line is there.

after a couple hard days of running in a row i knew not to expect much. the morning heart rate was 49, now way above the 10% rule for recovery from my now new low of 42.
still, it wasn't raining yet and i wanted to go out even if i just walked. but i started running right as i left the house to try and stay motivated.

ran north up binsey and over the trail to the river and headed north on the thames. some crew were out practicing and i saw the horses and cows romping together on the other side of the water, today a clear almost blue black color. the sun was out and the sky was a north carolina blue for a change though the weather people had argued about when it would rain today.

ran slowly north towards the nunnery, passing the tree cemetery and some more cows and lots of geese with their new little ones. they hissed at me as i passed and the cows moved slowly aside and i kept going one step at a time. was too pretty out to think much of being tired. and actually it wasn't too bad, more like the 21 st mile of a marathon than the 24th.

not many people out walking yet though some through hikers were camped just beyond the downed large trees and they had a little fire going and their dogs wandered about, seemingly docile as most dogs here seem to be.

what a pretty day. up the thames where i fully had intended on turning around at godstow road rather than deal with any traffic at all even for the shortest time on these legs which couldn't have jumped too fast had that been needed. but at the road i decided to continue north. it had been some time since we wet that far north on the thames as the trail peters out and is more suitable for people walking with good boots on rather than runners in their "trainers".

so north i went and the trail was pretty good for awhile and i passed the moored house boats and smelled the coal burning. love the boats with the flower pots on top. eventually the dirt trail met a paved wider bike path and i kept going. it had been some time since i had been this way and i had forgotten that some of this was paved. and it was now very rural. lots of sheep and cows in the fields and i could now barely hear the roar of the ring road, but the scenery was really pretty as the sun shimmered on the river with the ducks and geese coming and going and an occasional swan barely moving along in search of food. off in the distance to my left, the wytham woods were just gorgeous with the sunny blue sky behind their hills and the sun reflecting down on the trees. wish i were a slightly better writer so i could capture the scene more expressively for the few readers of this, but we have all seen days like this.

up to kings lock and slightly beyond and then the trail turned really narrow and i knew it was time to turn back having added two more miles north to the run. sometime before i leave here i will keep going just to see where i can meet the canal. will wait until i have fresh legs for that day. and so i turned south and it took about 4 minutes and the sun was gone and the sky was black and the wind was dead in to my face now. hard to explain this, but i was enjoying that as it kept me cooled off and also kept my pace nice and slow and steady.

two miles back down and across godstow road and the sun was now back out and the wind died down. met a couple walking i had talked to before and they warned me to look out for the cows on the trail. shortly i found the 20 cows or so who were walking the path and i mooed them over and they let me pass. i must make a good fake cow.

anyway, the rest of the run was pretty usual. went all the way down the thames after crossing over rainbow bridge and then under the train bridge. was actually feeling a little more energetic and moving a bit faster. using the right leg now to run also. didn't have enough energy to just use the left; a good test for it. ran the loop around templeton college and the rewley abbey and then back under the bridge and headed home. went down botley but passed the grocery store to add just the little bit i needed to make sure i had 10 miles in. down to the bike bath and around and that seemed to be enough and bought a few things and headed home.

and here i sit typing as the washer washes. with so few clothes here and such a little washer we tend to do a lot of laundry. the clothes can dry pretty quickly in the conservatory if the sun is out. they say now rain at 1pm. it is 12:33 as i type this. the sky is sunny to the east and black to the west where most of our rain comes from, though it also comes south from scotland.

more later but time to go to work sort of- btw- today is ann margaret's birthday-can she really be 67? what is kim novak doing today? or robin roberts?
speaking of the new robin roberts, i wish her well in her battle against breast cancer.