I invite you...

... to look at this list and tick off those that are familiar to you...

1. Deciding you do need leggings for today's run
2. Deciding you should take gloves because you might need them
3. The feeling of frozen wet toes, from running through 10cm of water cascading across the path, is not unfamiliar
4. Ditto the slithery gait you adopt when running through cow-trod soggy fields
5. Thinking it'll be much better when the ground's frozen a bit
6. Stiles seem unusually slippery
7. You don't remember the air temperature making your lungs ache quite so much
8. You're glad you wore a hat

Yep, it's winter again! All these occurred to me on my little River Loop trot out today. I also ran at dusk; the sun dipped throwing shafts of light, of a lovely silvery-peach colour, from behind a massed bank of cloud, the world was falling quiet and it began to get dark enough for the lights in the houses on the hillside to look warmly inviting. It was wonderful. Mostly because I managed to get round before it chucked it down again.

And now I must go and scan the internet for guidance on how to knit. I went with Mags to this wonderful wool and fabric shop in Clapham (the Yorkshire Dales one) today. Rather than stand around gormlessly while Mags ferreted out fabrics and such like, I engaged the kindly lady who runs it in conversation, the upshot being that I've decided to knit myself a scarf for winter. At the moment I have wool, and needles (which are now made of straight-grain birch, not the grey metal like the ones my Mum used to have) and only the vaguest clue how to waggle them together to produce said scarf. I'll let you know how it goes.

Smiley rating for the run 7.5/10