Gloom and doom

As I write, I am sitting at my desk watching the man who lives in the penthouse apartment across the canal sunbathe on his roof. I hate him. I have two days left at work (well, one and a half now) before a week off but, as I am heading North, I don’t think there will be many opportunities for sunbathing.

This morning’s run was not sunny, literally and figuratively. I was tired. My legs were tired. The sun was tired, hiding away until I was shut up in the office.  

It’s hard not to get disheartened on a run like this. Every step was a trial, every incline a mountain. The body was weak and the spirit un-willing. I walked four times in four miles and even stopped at the gym on the pretext of doing a few arm weights, but really because it meant I could have a rest and watch TV for a bit.

When I rounded the corner of my street after running back from the gym, a sinking feeling pushed my heart still lower in my chest. All that hard work and now I had to go to work.