On a smaller scale

It is difficult to follow those magnificent posts from Etty ... both content and writing are awesome, in the best sense of that word.  I read them again and again, almost hungrily, imagining them as they go and, especially, wondering how she is doing.
All I can say is that I was working in circles myself this morning, but small and local. Yesterday morning, my routine and discipline finally imploded. It wasn't dramatic, in fact, it was barely audible. A week of struggling with camera-ready proofs, late nights at the office, public lectures to attend (not give) found their way home yesterday and, end result, there was no time for breakfast before I left home, much less a run before work.
I was tempted to skip it altogether this week (a gathering with colleagues on the North side of the city kept me out later last night) but felt that a light workout would be imporant before tomorrow's long run. So, this morning, I did my short run (5k/3miles) close to home on the local Slí na Sláinte which, as I have said before, is almost a mile short of what I need to do on the shorter runs of this programme. It was a case of circles within circles. I go left through a housing estate, quite sleepy looking by city standards for 8:00 in the morning. Cars still stand in driveways. Curtains and blinds at the front of the house are still closed. There isn't the hustle and bustle I experience on the more residential sections of South Dublin where people queue outside schools, wave and blow kisses at kids freshly dropped off at nurseries and school gates. I miss the smell of cheap deodorant as I gallop past teenage boys with carefully crafted hair styles still gleaming with gel. I don't hear the chatter of long-skirted, uniformed girls, carrying bags of books and other goods necessary for an earnest day at school. All is quiet as I swing left again, bringing myself back onto the regular route. I run along a mile or so, cross through another housing estate and do one lap of the Commons bringing me to two miles. Now I can head back through the village, shops opening, traffic only just building, but still not at the frantic school-run stage. A turn round the corner and I am back at the start, my humble circle complete.