Back-to-back, part one

Last night's rainfall faded away into nothing some time in the early hours of the morning. When I got up, I opened the balcony door to let the wet earth scent seep into the living room. I was greeted by a bird choir, perched on a tree right outside the house. Nature was finally awake after its long winter slumber and was triumphantly singing at the top of its lungs.

The sun didn't break through the clouds until later, and the wind was still chilly when I and 6 other runners from AIK met up. I had asked if anyone wanted to join me for a Good Friday long run and luckily there were several who wanted to run with me.

We headed east, keeping to the north side of the river. We ran as slowly as we possibly could. This was supposed to be the first of two long runs, on two consecutive days, for me and a couple of the others. I was going to do back-to-back long runs, today and tomorrow, in order to get some more mileage while keeping the risk of injury relatively low.

Our conversation flowed freely, and revolved mainly around - you guessed it - training. The clouds dispersed and I marveled at how blue the sky can be. We haven't really been spoiled when it comes to sunny days this winter, and I made sure to enjoy every single photon that touched my body. We caught glimpses of the ground under the pine trees and spruces as we ran by a wooded area, and it was bare. The trails are probably still covered in ice, but it's not going to be long before that, too, gives in to the warmth of the spring sun.

Photo by E. H.

Two hours later we were back at the parking lot. The low pace we had kept throughout the run meant that my body wasn't particularly tired, but it also might have been the cause of the niggle in my left knee.

Very few things beat a long run on a sunny day. This is life at its best.