On The Run

If you happened to be in the HDB car-park behind the Darussalam Mosque in Clementi just after Friday Prayers you would have been exposed to an extremely rare sight: i.e., my good self running, or rather trotting, I suppose, at a reasonably fair lick. It is over a year since I ran anywhere, due to the problems caused by the trapped nerve in my lower back. So why the sudden burst of energy? It was part of a desperate attempt to avoid being soaked by the rain which had suddenly decided to fall.

Ironically, on my way to the mosque I had been congratulating myself on the fact that it was not going to be necessary to carry an umbrella with me as it was an unusually fine day for this wet November, with no sign whatsoever of any imminent precipitation. How wrong I was, though I was not aware of the fact until I was on the way out. Normally you can hear the rain coming down from inside the mosque but today there wasn't a sound or any kind of hint of a storm, so I'm assuming it began just as I was leaving.

But this is a story of celebration - for two reasons. First of all, although I was fairly wet by the time I made it to the car, it took less than fifteen minutes to get almost completely dry. It's the climate. Even the greyest November day here is essentially warm. In Manchester I'd have suffered for hours if I'd got that wet.

And secondly, I was actually running, and do not appear to have done myself any harm. I've been pain free now - I'm talking of sciatic pain - for two weeks. I'm starting to believe that the trapped nerve has mysteriously and wonderfully untrapped itself. If this is the case I can seriously begin to consider seriously exercising this tired old body of mine. And I didn't think that would have been possible even a month ago.