Dirt Therapy

 As I whinged about last week, I've been having a bit of a tough time recently.

Partly due to the chilly, grey weather, which thankfully seems to be breaking at last..

While some things are beyond my ability to control, I've taken some steps to try to help me catch my balance a bit.

Most of those steps have been on dirt.

Which is just as I like it.

Some have been in old, familiar places, from which I've been absent too long.

Places of peace and tranquility

Some of them have been teeming with life..

While the weather hasn't felt like it, spring is in full swing in the woods

..and some have been rather less so.

..though there' still the occasional clump of flowers.

By hook or by crook, four out of the six runs I've gone for since Saturday have been on some form of trail or other.

Assisted by the golden light of lengthening days

It hasn't all been a bed of roses out there - it's the height of midge/mayfly season along the river, where they're so thick they look like a warm weather snowfall in the sun..

They're in your eyes, your mouth, your nose..

As the sun sets they somehow intensify, trying to blot out the last of the daylight..

And somehow even getting inside your clothes - I found three in my bra after this run!

But there are flowers blooming and the drab browns and greys of winter are giving way to the riot of green as a billion tons of sap and chlorophyll stream through trunk and stem.

Nature is the best decorator

I don't know if it's really getting better, but it's not getting worse.

..and that's enough, for now.

I'm just going to keep on running as best I can, searching for the light at the end of the trail.

I can see it - I just don't know if I can reach it.

Wishing you all sunshine and endless miles of enchanting trails - may you always stay fearlessly beyond the black dog's reach.