Sonder Bikes
Alastair Humphreys asks how do you want today to end? What memories and winter moments do you want to make? Once you know, lacing up your shoes and opening your front door is much easier.
How do you want today to end? As we enter the colder months, here's how I'd like my day to finish: tucked under a duvet, rain rattling windows. Eyelids heavy, ready for sleep, legs nicely worn and weary from running, and my mind drowsily drifting. The images of the day fade into snores.
Here is how I love a winter run to end: peeling off muddy shoes and soggy socks in a stinking heap to be dealt with later. The steaming recovery of a hot shower, fingers and toes thawing back to life. And then toast. Always toast. It's the same on the days I choose to bike or hike or stroll out taking photographs - earning the tea and toast!
Here is how today's run went: relaxed, head up, not breaking records, but listening to the jackdaws raucously roosting as the streetlights came on in the town below. My friend turned to me and said, "Look, you can see the whole route we've run to get here."
And here is how my runs begin: panting on the first few strides, fiddling with my zip and hat and gloves. Not yet comfy. Then I settle into my rhythm, feeling the cold air in my nostrils and tightening on my cheeks, and I feel so, so glad that I made the effort to squeeze in this quick trot to make the most of the precious few hours of winter daylight. I'm stuck indoors a lot at this time of year, and even though I know fresh air makes me feel better, I sometimes feel intimidated by the harshness of the outdoors and more inclined not to bother.
But my mood always soars out here, crunching through frozen puddles past the old oak tree with its bare midwinter branches silhouetted against the pale sky. I never regret this burst of fresh air and nearby nature.
And so this is how I get myself out of the house on winter days when the world is gloomy, and life feels somehow both more busy and more pointless than in the golden days of summer. I do it by thinking how grateful I'll be tonight when I'm in bed, remembering all these small things that are so good, so valuable, but which only happen if I lace up my shoes, step out the front door, and begin.
The most important days to do this are the days when I don't want to - when I'm too busy, too lethargic, or when the winter gloom feels eternal. These are the days when the tiniest dose of adventure reminds me what I really want to be living for. And so I will go outside today, perhaps only for a cup of tea under a tree, or maybe for something more epic. They both count.
So how do you want today to end? What memories and winter moments do you want to make? Once you know, lacing up your shoes and opening your front door is much easier.