Today’s discovery: Folkestone Gardens

The more and more I get into mindful running the more conscious I have been about my surroundings.

Today I set off for Folkestone Gardens it’s a small skate park in Deptford. At the moment we’re having a mini heat wave in England so picture it now the sun was shining, no blazing in the sky. It was an absolutely glorious day, I grabbed my iced bottle of water and set off with a heightened sense of excitement.

The route was quite simply up a long, long, long hilly road, previously I would have daydreamed off or focused on my watch to see how far I had run. But today I challenged myself to focus on my surroundings. To pay more attention to my senses, what did I see, hear, feel as I ran this ordinarily mundane road. There was a grassy path that took me off road for a brief moment that I would have missed. And then I saw it in the distance. A white sign ‘Arthouse open’ I’m running to a park, a little sweaty do / should I really stop in a gallery – what if they don’t let me in. ‘Why not’ I thought it’s unlikely I’d be coming this way any time soon. So in I went. It was a really nice exhibition called ‘St. Nowhere’ where four artist question what utopia is today and its relationship to space.

Fellow runners as the title of the blog suggest, what are you missing out on? Are you too busy or preoccupied to take the time to explore your surroundings? I encourage you to get outside get running, turn down a different street, say yes to the random door marked open as you don’t know where it will lead you.

Nadine x