Glowing

It's been a rare family oriented day. Although it was Forrest's birthday I didn't see much of him until the evening as, even by his standards, he had 'enjoyed' a rather heavy couple of nights. By a strange quirk of Fate, his new work end of year celebration now combines with the end of the cricket season to both coincide with his birthday. He definitely had something of a triple-whammy headache today!

With everyone sleeping in I made a spur of the moment decision to run the Rombald's Romp, a relatively new fell race which I'd only just come across. The start was at 11am but so close to home that I didn't set off to pay my dues and get my number until twenty minutes to the hour. It was billed as 6.5 miles and following the recent rain there was some good sloshing about in the mud, especially through the forest section. I probably ran a bit harder than I expected but everything held up well and I finished 35th out of 114 in 58.14. I'll take that right now, considering the lack of training. For my own records, a link to the results here. I was reminded once again of the buzz I get from racing and why I used to love it so much. I really needed that kick today.

As soon as the race finished I headed off to meet Roam and Shenny at the Cow and Calf. He wanted to show her the delights of the moor. It was good to see his pride in the place. I always tend to think that the kids take it completely for granted. Fortunately for me, Shenny loves the camera (the camera certainly loves her) and was actually stopping to ask me to take pictures of the two of them. That wasn't a problem at all - as you can imagine. They both seemed to be glowing in the warmth of a truly beautiful September day, as nice a weekend day as we've had all summer.

It was delightful to have a chance to get to know Shenny a little this weekend. I've got to be impressed that within minutes of arriving she was browsing my bookshelves and discussing literature. Just before leaving she called to ask if she could borrow a few books and asked which cosmology book I'd recommend from my collection. I wasn't expecting that! She's a remarkable young woman.