Running and dealing with work issues (again!)

Although it's only a couple of days since I last ran, I really miss running!

I woke up at 3.30am, much earlier than normal.  I was wide awake: so I tried plugging my ear phones in and listening to the World Service on the Beeb - this is sometimes a nice way of drifting back off to sleep but alas it wasn't going to work so I "unplugged" myself.  As I lay there I could hear the flaps on our bathroom extractor fan ticking and the sound was travelling through the silent house - we've recently had it fitted and we're getting used to these new things.  The fan is ticking because it's so windy outside, as well as being so cold and dark.

I have things on my mind about work.  I can't go into the details here or really to tell you how I feel about things but I know a good run would help.  I reckon you know that as well, especially if you're a runner.

If it were summer time, the dawn might be breaking through and I could sneak out and run silently through the deserted streets and into the countryside.  I'd be the first to run through patches of cool air in the woods, the first to break through the cobwebs and leave some footprints in the dew.  I would run as silently as I could and all you'd hear would be gentle fleeting footsteps wafting by.  I'd be breathing in a nice rhythm, a steady pattern with ample in reserve.  My heart would be pumping away steadily at around 150bpm, again with more capacity in reserve but you'd never know.  I would jump over the patches of long grass, landing softly and hardly disturbing anything around me.

The sunrise would be a beautiful masterpiece in the sky; it would grow and develop in all it's glory, unfolding ahead of the new day.  I would work through these issues on my mind.  I'd run up a chalky, grass hill panting by the time I reached the top and it would all start to become clear. My thoughts would be straight, I'd have a solution - I would know what to say and to who.  I would know the counter arguments and deal with those, one by one.

And yet it is March.  It is cold, below freezing, very windy, dark and unpleasant outside.  I get up, sneak as quietly as I can to have a hot shower and get dressed.  I have turned the heating on and brewed some nice coffee - feels comforting but not the same as a good run.

I remember someone from our church saying we can worship God in all we do.  He explained "all we do" could mean while we do the most mundane things and we could seek that inspiration and to hear God's words in our hearts.  At the time I didn't take it in until one day, early one summer day I was running hard across an escarpment with far views across the rolling English countryside, I could feel those words and closeness.

These are all good reminders for me on why I started running in the first place and why it remains such a brilliant thing to do.  Never mind all those Action Learning Sets we have at work; running is a brilliant way of working through those issues and solving those problems!