Bonjour tout le monde!
After a particularly slow, frustrating afternoon yesterday, I actually contemplated going out for a run (and I can’t remember the last time that happened of an evening!), whilst dinner was cooking in the oven.
Unfortunately I got sidetracked, but the irrepressible Bok must have picked up the vibes, as about an hour later and completely out of the blue, he suddenly thought to call… to arrange a run!
And so at 7am this morning we set out for a delightful run around one of the old circuits: out to the (recently refurbished but now starting to look decidedly dilapidated again) Royal Oak, through West Wood to the industrial estate and back again via the Magical Path and Ditchling Common.
It was a lovely natterful run but, as in the excellent film Le Retour de Martin Guerre, I had to wonder whether this was really the same Bok that I used to run with… and like the film, in an entirely positive way.
I won’t bore you with the important stuff, but this Bok (quite possibly an imposter) did not lead the charge, actually stopped to catch his breath at one point and though he initiated a final sprint to the end, then didn’t have the famous speed of old.
And yet it took about the same 45 minutes to complete the 5.23 mile circuit as we quite often used to complete it in. A merest snip under 7mph.
It took me quite a while to work my way back through all the references to the Bok in my blog, to the last time I actually ran with him. I’m glad I was sitting down when I finally figured it out: 6th December, 2008… WOW!
That’s 2 years and 7 months ago… it may have felt almost like yesterday, but no wonder he seemed a little different!