Someone, quite smart turned to me the other day to say, ‘Do you know it’s only six months before the 10in10?’ Turning round to look at them, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Lake Windermere. The relevance of this is that where I work overlooks Windermere, it’s great, no matter how busy and bonkers Bowness can be The Ryebeck always remains a sanctuary of calm outside the usual tourist area that lies below the Hotel. A little over eleven miles of glistening, glacial, rippling Lake. Now though, every time I do a breakfast, lunch or in the dimming evening light a dinner shift; out of the conservatory windows I can see what I now refer to as ‘The Constant Reminder’.
Yep, six months to go. November, December, January, February, March, April, that’s it. That’s all, not nine months but six months, less than a full-term pregnancy. Twenty six point two miles around, ten times, one after the other. Have you ever had those moments when your brain tingles with excitement and adrenalin? Or perhaps it’s the synapses knotting together in a merry dance, energising itself reminding you that something needs to happen? Well, that’s what’s happening now, not sure why, the mind is a strange thing, or maybe I’m a strange thing? Oh, yes the title of this entry. I’ve affectionately named Windermere my ‘Reminder’ but also England’s Great (biggest) Big Puddle. When I ran beside her this weekend in the rain, I decided I needed to name her something as I need to beat her, I need to beat it, ten times around. A laugh, a joke, it’s a conversation and a battle to be had, hopefully we’ll enjoy the full dialogue together.
By the way, I have been training, few runs last week including a half marathon, no strapping, no massage but sensible stretching (before and after) and sensible running. Slow down I told myself, do the stretching, it’s worth the extra time and effort, stop expecting so much, so soon. The hardest thing was listening to myself and realising I was right. Strange things are happening, who knows why but I feel a damn sight more confident than I did six weeks ago.