It snowed here yesterday for the first time this winter. Starting around mid-morning, settling for a while, hesitating, and then going for it again in the afternoon. At five, finishing work, there was the slightest blue light remaining in a clear sky, and the snow was still coating the fields, the temperature sub-zero.
I went for a run along the small single track road leading up the river Severn, intending to cross by the next bridge and come back on another road. The Severn is small here, barely two metres wide, and the rush from the days weather could be heard as background noise as I began.
The fields were white and still, and reflected the little light there was, bouncing it back and forth between them and the hazy sky to prolong the day. It was cold and there was no wind. I turned my head torch off and the visibility increased. The sky was rapidly darkening but it was easy to see the difference between the white fields and the black slip of a road I was on.
I continued in this way for some time, past houses and their kitchen lights, and once startling a dog who broke the winter silence as I ran past. My hands were cold under gloves and I sometimes turned the torch on when I heard water in front of me, to check the road was not too submerged before I went on.
I crossed the bridge and began the return leg as the clouds closed in and light snow turned to heavy sleet, rushing past my torch in white stripes, my eyes unable to pick out individual flakes amidst the maelstrom. I was soon soaked, and unable to see anything but the ground directly in front of me, in a circle of torch-light.
I tried again turning the torch off and could see much better, the orange glow from the town reflected onto the clouds and showed up trees on either side of me. The sleet shower was now just a noise, and a sensation on my clothes. I couldn’t see anything apart from the nothingness that meant the road. I ran at it.
The sleet eventually eased and I got back to the street lights. There’s something to be said for running in the dark, especially if you have snow to light your way.
Feet in the Woods 