#lockdown #thistooshallpass

Strangely March 19th seems like a long time ago now. So much has happened in that time and yet so little. Back then looking at the harrowing reports from Italy and Spain which were flooding BBC news in March it seemed on that dark cold spring night as I sat in the car park for Clachnaben that hill running was to be banned, at that point it felt like forevermore. How long was this pandemic going to last? How many were to succumb to it? Isn’t this basically the flu by another name? So many questions and unknowns. In Spain you were not allowed to leave the house for anything except to buy food and medical reasons, exercise was forbidden. Lockdown meant lockdown. In France you could go out but no more than 2k from your front door. Running in groups had now been forbidden in the UK for fear of transmission of the virus. It seemed as though it was only a matter of time before running in its entirety was going to be banned especially as groups like jogscotland were still meeting up against all official advice.

The car park at the foot of the hill was understandably empty, the hill was completely devoid of people. I felt confused and angry. It seemed hard to understand banning hill running when there was zero chance of transmitting the virus to anyone. Surely if you couldn’t be suffering from a deadly virus and still be running up a hill, after all if it was like the flu then hill running was the last thing you would be doing. This was of course before the 2 week incubation period was really known about and the seemingly large numbers of asymptomatic carriers who could also transmit it. But at that point it all made no sense to me. Maybe in reality though it’s my state of mind that should be questioned. My concerns were not whether I would keep my job in the face of the inevitable economic uncertainty of a global pandemic nor whether I would succumb to a deadly illness. No, my concern was whether I could go running.

“Further announcements” ie: the announcement of lockdown were to come from Downing street on the Monday night. Another strange decision amongst so many throughout this whole crisis. Monday was the day after Mother’s Day. Why not lockdown before Mother’s Day? Surely it was obvious what was going to happen on this commercially hi-jacked day so far removed from its original religious roots and yes, Mother’s Day was originally a religious festival before you ask.

A little lesson in religious history – Mother’s Day or, to give it the correct title Mothering Sunday, had nothing to do with visiting your mother – it was the 4^th Sunday of Lent when it was traditional for people to return to visit the mother church which was the main church or cathedral in the region or county. It did not involve spa weekends or Pandora bracelets. The current incarnation is an American invention dating from 1908 and American Mother’s Day is in May, not during Lent. And from what I could see during my run around Hazlehead Park on the Sunday, the hills no longer an option, it was clearly happening – big multigenerational family groups all out and about having picnics against all government advice. How many lives would have been saved if lockdown had come in 2 days earlier let alone 2 weeks earlier? Not being a huge fan of these based-in-religion-now-hijacked-by-commercialism type of events it was certainly a little anger provoking. Actually I think I’ve just answered my own question there. The decisions made by government  thus far appear to have all been based on the economy rather than reducing the death rate.

I ran slowly up and down the hill relishing the silence and the cold and the dying light of day giving way to a starry night. At the foot of the hill I stood slightly forlornly and watched the stars above the silhouette of Clachnaben wondering when I would be back.

It was an important lesson in impermanence I suppose, nothing is forever and its possible in a very short space of time for everything to be taken from you in ways you could never have anticipated. But then likewise again everything changes quickly and the dark cloud started to pass after a few weeks as predicted by the scientists. The gradual easing of lockdown started in June and by the 3^rd July we were allowed to venture further afield than the regulation 5 miles. How I envied anyone living in Aboyne or similar locations who could just run or cycle to the mountains throughout it all. Aberdeen is fine for running but there are just too many people, everywhere was often so busy during the remarkable spell of good weather this spring. I longed to run somewhere where there were no people.

July 3^rd was a Friday. The 5 mile travel limit was finally lifted so I decided that the appropriate thing to do would be to visit the same hill as my final hill run before lockdown, Clachnaben. As it was a work day this meant a pre-work start on a wet cold summer morning and I wasn’t the only one who had that idea as I could see the silhouette of a runner on shoulder of the hill up in front of me. I was at the summit before 7am and a cold rain shower was blowing through as I looked out at the mists skimming the hillside with a sense of relief. Freedom at last. Away from the city, away from people. Proper self isolation. I’m not sure what I expected to see though. It was not as though the hills would have suddenly changed in the space of 4 months, they were always going to be there waiting. The bracken was longer and the grass and trees lush and green compared to that almost winter night I was last there but no, nothing had changed. At one point a mountain hare bounced past me and I’m not sure who was the most startled, him or me.

After getting a bit chilled from standing around on the summit I dragged myself away and jogged back to the car to find the other runner had not returned yet, he was really making use of the lifting of the travel restriction (or didn’t have to go to work) and I procrastinated about going home and having to start work even to the extent of standing in the rain and drinking coffee. Running up mountains at 6am in the morning probably isn’t normal for most people but this was at least a step back towards my normality.