https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH7g3hh9DCQ
I am optimistically calling this my ‘Before’ video. Check out my steez after a month on a penny board. You can see I’ve already nailed a) standing up, b) waving my arms about like a monkey and c) grinning wildly. Yep, doin’ it like a pro..
Our weekend started in a flurry of activity – work for me and a 30k run for Tom |shucks.. so sorry to miss that..:|
So a lazy Sunday explore in the golden light seemed the best of plans. We ambled off without a map, up some common downland (the same spot where we slept a few summers back).
From the top, we could spot the nearby pine forest that we’d never explored together. Any new patch of wilderness is crying out to be investigated.
It was worth fighting through the undergrowth on the lee side of the hill, to get to the top complete with climbing tree and swing. We soon discovered we were not alone. The top of a hill this perfect, is too irresistible to not ride down. The woodland is scattered with seriously tempting downhill trails (though I completely lack the mtb skills.)
I was happy to settle for a slow pace, the chance to notice the small flutterings and leaf rustlings that are usually drowned out as our muddy feet come crashing through. Trying out tiny footpaths, collecting pine cones, and generally putting the world to rights felt like the right kind of pace for this slice of winter sunshine.
Photos by the ever-talented Tom Pratt.
What better way to beat the January blues than run away for the weekend, on a last minute adventure to the not-too-distant South Downs. If we were sentimental about it, I could also say we were marking the fact we’ve been together fifteen years (sentimental? Me?!)
We woke up to the lightest dusting of snow in our little corner of Petworth and threw on our running gear to go in search of the highest point around. This is the first time I’ve ever run in the snow. It felt strange to head out in to the white stuff without multiple bulky woolly layers, but I’ve learnt that as long as your toes, fingers and ears are warm, the rest of you will cope just fine.
After a couple hours exploring the high land (high by southern standards at least) we ambled back down to the now-muddy puddles and shrieked our way through icy streams on the trail back home.
We filled the rest of our weekend with hearty pub food, exploring old towns, and ambling at a delightful easy pace, bulky woolly layers firmly restored against those winter winds. A weekend away in January is a Prust tradition I’m very happy to uphold.
You might have spotted in my alphabet list for 2015 a potentially foolhardy S: skateboarding. I spent my childhood way out in the countryside, at the top of a steep gravelly drive. Not ideal for learning to skate, though I did have a classic 80s board, with neon deck and hot pink wheels. I got as far as sitting and rolling hesitantly.
So here I am twenty years later with renewed resolve to learn a useful and generally pretty awesome skill. Walking is slow, bikes are bulky, and buses are just painful. The obvious addition to my epic commute is a nifty penny board.
It’ll be a while before I’m whizzing round anywhere on these four little wheels. For now, I am having great fun throwing myself in to something that is deceptively difficult. I spent the first few days in the house, pushing myself from staircase to countertop, and balancing on the carpet, figuring out where my feet should go.
I’m enjoying being terrible at something, knowing I can only get better. I would have been way too self-conscious to try boarding in my teen years. Now I couldn’t care less. I’m looking forward to the day I can breeze by, without my trailing, shuffling foot. Even at my slow faltering pace, this S in my alphabet is seriously good fun.
Ooh, these days have got dark and stormy. And cold! That duvet is too luscious to leave behind in the morning; and the couch beckons the moment I turn the key at the end of the day.
So, any extra boosts to get me outdoors are welcome. There’s lots out there: keep track of numbers on Strava, or get some awesome gear. But after discovering Joelix’s Instagram feed, I realised that the funnest way is to give yourself a hashtag.
Judith’s #joelixruns series is a fantastically colourful way to track runs. My streets (and shoes) aren’t quite as colourful, but I love the idea so have got snapping my own feet (and tagged many of Tom’s photos. After all, he is my biggest motivation for running.)
