Yesterday morning I did my fastest morning jog this year over what I call my 10km route. I was only 20 seconds faster than my previous best – but that isn’t saying a lot because I’m no speedster!!
Anyway, I’d decided that this morning was a rest day (meaning no morning exercise) but Janine was up at 5:45am to go to the gym, so I thought ‘what the heck’, and I got up, put my gear on and headed out.
My muscles were still a little fatigued from yesterday’s effort, so I did a few short jogs to get the cobwebs out before settled into a brisk walk.
One of the great things about Canberra is it’s a city with a lot of cycle paths and walking tracks. More often than not, my morning jog is along the cycle paths, because they are smooth and I’m much less likely to twist an ankle in the dark.
Most of the route is lined by trees and there is one stretch of about 600 metres that has no lighting, so in the early morning when it is still dark… this bit can be very dark.
When I’m jogging or running through this section, I don’t really notice how dark it is because I’m usually listening to my iPod or deep in meditative thought. But this morning I was walking and this long dark stretch seemed a lot longer than usual.
Whilst in this dark section, I passed a few people going in the opposite direction, but I couldn’t see any of them. One girl I recognised, but only because she is a regular, in her early 20s, does the power walk and always says ‘hello’ – I recognised her voice.
How lucky are we that we live in a city where not only do we have these great outdoor areas, but where so many people can feel safe strolling through dark areas like this without fear.
How great would it be if people could live with a sense of freedom and safety like this in every city in the world!