"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own" Sri Chinmoy
Sommieres 2 Mile Race - May 2026 - South of France
The Joy Day race is an institution - a 2 mile run (or walk, if you aren't fit to run) usually measured in a hurry the night before, wherever we happen to be meeting up. This one was by the river in Sommieres, measured by Suswara using GPS just a few minutes before the start!
As I was walking not running, I wrapped up well on the cool & showery morning and got myself ready to race-walk the full distance. After our usual silence and race-prayer, we were off on a traffice-free road under towering, pollarded planes with the village to one side and the cool air from the river drifting in from the other. Paul was off like a rocket to run a sub-12 time without anyone in his class to challenge him, while I was of course with the slower runners and joggers trying to keep up without being tempted to break into a run. The aim was to go as quickly as I could without aggravating my severely injured knee, and for the first mile it went pretty smoothly. The course was 400m each way, so after turning around a tree and returning to the start we had done just half a mile. Most of the time I was looking up into the trees rather than out over the river, the waving branches seeming to dance to a music all of their own in the pale morning light. Normally in a 2-mile race I'm going flat out against my aerobic capacity and racing for all I'm worth, but this enforced break from running is making me appreciate the slower side of "racing", being able to take in the atmosphere and make it a meditative experience.
I was still in race mode to some extent, checking my watch, wondering how fast I could walk. After all, there's an 800m walking race in August I could do. Woah, hang on, we're badly injured here and already thinking about a race? Instinct I suppose. Anyway, the pace was around 12:30 per mile to start with but then slowed to around 14 minute pace as I realised I might be straining the dodgy knee just a little too much. It felt OK until the final lap of 4, when it really did twinge a little, but even after slowing again for that I manage to finish the 2 miles in 27:47. A pretty divine number, I'd say.
As there were only 3 guys doing the full distance (Suswara, the 4th, did a single mile - having run so many laps already to do the measurement) that did mean I got some crisps later on for being third. So, 27 is the benchmark, giving me a baseline to improve on. As for the 800m walk - well I can probably race it at three-quarter effort but I can't see myself getting in the top few. Still, to be part of a race is a wonderful thing and I have had many experiences of walking the distance due to injury, just to get out there and be on the course.
Kokila was fastest among the girls who did just the one mile rather than two. There wasn't a prize for that, but we shared the crisps :).
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