Musings, not necessarily on the subject of running.

I was approached by a colleague in the staff room this week.  Given that I have spent most of the week scowling and hissing at anyone who tries to interrupt me on my trek from the chilly building site of my classroom to the relative sanctuary of the ladies loos or the warmth of the photocopier, she was a brave lady.  She'd heard that we lived in the same area and wondered if I wanted to carpool with her and another local colleague.

They are both lovely ladies, but my answer was 'No thank you!'  I didn't hesitate for a second, or say that I would think about it.  I totally understand that it makes sense to carpool, it saves money for everyone involved, it is the ecologically sound thing to do, the thing a responsible adult should do.  But I can't!  The idea of having to fit in with someone else's timetable is too stressful.  I like to leave the house when I want to leave the house, much earlier than most people, and arrive when there are very few other people around.  More importantly, I want to leave when I want to leave after school.  I suppose I could justify my reluctance to carpool by saying that I need to be able to get home quickly if something happened to any of the children.  But that isn't really true.  Husbando could get to the children from his shop far faster than I could anyway.  And what would happen about the radio?  Would we have to talk to each other every morning?  Would they want to listen to music rather than my beloved Radio 4? My car journey too and from work is a little oasis of 'me time' in a hectic day and I'm not going to share it!

Now this is a running muse.  When I run on a road with no pavement, I run, as mandated in the Highway Code, facing oncoming traffic.  Whenever I have run in a road race, whether or not the roads are closed, we are direct to run on the opposite side of the road.  Why?

There was something else I wanted to write about, but as soon as I sat down in front of the keyboard it vanished from my brain.  Or maybe it vanished in those few moments just as I was sitting down, but before my bum made contact with the seat, when my youngest came in asking me to get a cup for her so she could get some water.  I often wonder how many World shatteringly important thoughts have been lost forever because I have been interrupted by small (and not so small) children.

Anyway, it is parkrun day tomorrow.  There was a time when the between Friday and Sunday was known as Saturday, but it is now parkrun day.  I may be tired and grumpy this week, and I did briefly consider missing (I was going to say skipping - but the image of me skipping for 5k is not a pretty one!) parkrun and staying in bed tomorrow morning.  It won't happen, I'll be there at the start line, trying to remind  my legs that they know how to run a wee bit faster than they have in the last few months!