JUST BEFORE the Hangover 5 at Worthing I was invited to join J&M Runners on their annual New Years run on the South Downs. They have run routes all over Mid Sussex taking people out regularly and this is their big once a year run, on a spectacular landscape.
The plan was to meet at the Jack and Jill windmill on Clayton Hill. From there it is a straight run up hill to Ditchling Car Park. This was the turning point, and the start of the return journey back to the windmills. The second option was to run for 30 minutes, this could put you beyond the car park, but you turned at that point. All runners should then be back at the windmill at about the same time.I got up in the morning and it was cold as I got ready for the run, by the time I got to the South Downs, up high and in the open it was colder. Knowing it was going to be cold I dressed for the weather, knowing that although cold, once we started moving I was going to warm up.
There is something good for the soul in being up high and looking out over a large part of Sussex. Running up hill, soon warmed you up and the cows had moved close to the path as the farmers were working with them. Their hot breath forming a veil of steam as we ran past, going on to the frozen pond a bit further up the track. I was glad when we got to a point where their was sunshine as I had lost feeling in my fingers!
This time of year is strange, the sun comes out, but it doesn't really warm you up, it's low in the sky pushing shadows across the landscape and blinding you in others.This was a great run out, meeting some familiar people and new ones. We went back via the Garden Centre just before Stone Pound Cross Roads for a deserved coffee and breakfast.
A lot of running is about the community, the people you meet along the way, you have that common ground that you start taking about and using. I will look out for this run next year.
