Whenever I can, I like to mark the longest day in some way. This year I got up at 3:00am and went for a mid summer run – it was amazing!
One of the things that made it so special was my youngest daughter, Hannah, saying she’d like to come with me. That was lovely on her part and I was delighted at the thought that she would be prepared to get up at that very early hour and come running with me.
The alarm went off at exactly 3:00am. I was straight into my running shorts and top, followed by my shoes downstairs. We crept out of the house and into Rachel’s car to head up to Dunstable Downs. I’m not sure whether to be surprised or not, there were two other cars there already but definitely not runners. One was a black Mercedes with some “strange” smoke coming from the open windows and lots of larking around going on. The other was a black Range Rover looking a little sinister. Oh, there was a huge camper van there and it looked like the occupants were fast asleep.
So at 3:20am the glow on the horizon was getting brighter and growing across the sky. There were some thin wispy clouds in the sky, just enough to put a little haze over the actual sunrise. It was still with no wind and a little cool.
As we set off, Hannah zoomed ahead as she often does; this is the sign of a youthful body, unlike me as I start in a very rigid, stiff way. We only did a little over 3 miles as I still need to limit the amount of running I do with this damn catheter in place (I get very sore after a short while). As we were running I was able to turn my head torch off as there was enough light to see our way safely enough. We could hear all kinds of birdsong all around us and it gradually faded as the light grew stronger.
Seeing the sunrise on (almost) the longest day is so amazing and I love doing this kind of thing (before now I have cycled through the night, also an unforgettable experience). I loved the soft, mellow colours. It smelt so fresh and all was calm, peaceful and as it should be. We stopped at a viewing point (where the above photo was taken and just gazed at the changing colours all around us. It was truly magnificent and so special with Hannah. Hannah hardly spoke at all, she just likes to concentrate on what’s happening and to soak it all up – she’s right, sometimes less is more.