"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own"   Sri Chinmoy

St Jeannet 2 Mile Race June 2019

The setting for this morning run was perfect, as it so often is - how many people get to race in the company of friends from around the world in such beautiful surroundings? I'm very lucky to be part of this!

St Jeannet is in the mountains 15km north of Nice and the road Jayasalini had chosen was the flattest available. It was a 3-lap course that came out a tad short of 2 miles, but no-one was complaining about the accuracy - the views and the morning silence were more than enough to satisfy the two dozen or so who took part. There was an option to walk/jog one mile or run the full two miler, almost everyone went for the full distance.

As expected, Gianluca went off fastest (he's recently broken 18 mins for 5k, so about 25 secs per mile faster than me right now) and though I tried to stay with him he was soon clear. I kept up the effort, finding the hills got steeper on the later laps (I hardly noticed them on the first circuit and they were mountains on the third!) and I was slowing down after the over-optimistically fast start. I still managed to hang on to second place though, partly because Suswara was in tapering mode with a 100k looming. A resurgent Rasmivan came third, and I hope his rehab continues to go well, as he's a natural runner and it seems strange when he's not there giving it max effort in the races.

So far this summer I've managed to manage my achilles and calf issues without any real relapses - Dr Kumar told me my injury problems were behind me and I've even managed to meditate away some pain/inflammation when it crops up (using Sri Chinmoy's "light" technique, which I've tried endlessly over the years but only now found I can do effectively). So, that combined with the wisdom that comes from years of running and almost as many years of responding to injury problems, seems to be paying off.

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