So it's been hard. This training process. And long. Sooooo long. The whole plan is 18 weeks and here we are in week 16 with just over two weeks until race day.
So it likely won't surprise you when I say that it was really hard to get out the door for this one. Like, super hard. I just didn't wanna. I was tired. Work has been crazy busy. And Micheal and I had had a disagreement earlier on that we'd tried to resolve but I still left the house in a less than ideal head space because it was going to be dark soon, I was starving, and I had to just get out and get it done. So I did.
I have a typical 8k route that I've done many times before but I didn't feel up for it tonight. Has a few hilly sections and nope, didn't have it in me. So I ran down Thickson then back, adding in extra sections of my 'hood to get me to that magic 8 number.
One of those extra add ons is the wee square you see at the bottom. That? It's a cemetery. Yep, you read that right. Cemetery.
A while back I was planning out my routes and Map My Run suggested I run through this green space on Taunton. I had to think long and hard before I realized it was a cemetery. Chatted to my other runner friends about running in such a space (have you seen House of Cards and what happens to her when she runs through one????) and there were many of my compatriots that have run through them so that made me reconsider.
On my way back from my out and back I came across said cemetery and decided to give it a try. It's a small space so I knew it wouldn't add too much but would give me the extra distance I needed. I rounded the corner and was committed.
It was very quiet and very flat. It felt strange, like I was trespassing or something, yet it was very peaceful at the same time. I felt out of place, and rightfully so, and decided that would be my first and last time running in this particular place.
As I rounded the last corner I passed a man in front of a very well tended grave. He had to have been my age, maybe a little older, and he was sitting in one of those folded camping chairs. Just sitting and staring.
It broke my heart.
The very first thing I did when I got home was go straight to Micheal and give him a massive hug, apologizing for whatever the hell it had been we were squabbling over. So not important, given what I'd just witnessed. So not important.
While I'll likely never run through that space again, I'm still glad I did if only for the perspective it gave me.
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