The smell of Fall

This last week or two the weather has taken a turn. We're into Autumn for reals. For the most part I LOVE this time of year....the soups, the crockpot, candles, pumpkins, the colours, the leaves....oh I could go on and on!!

For running it's a little tougher. For the last three years my big GOAL race has always been the first weekend of October. What with the big comedown following your big race, it's also right around this time the nights suddenly start to draw in. Not to mention the mornings. All of a sudden dragging myself out of bed seems like an impossible task (yet, not 2-3 weeks ago I was up and out!) It's pitch dark when the alarm goes off, and it's still pretty dim when I plan to head out of the door. Whilst I'm more than happy to jump on any old excuse to NOT go (hey, I'm all  about safety....no...really!!) it really is much more of a mental game than anything else. And it's been a tough one

BUT....(And here we finally get to the point of this post) it is well worth it. I experience the most wonderful sensory overload. The cool weather (and a little rain) brings a perfect freshness to the mornings. I set off cocooned in my warm weather gear and slowly wake from my slumber to enjoy the freshness of a new day.

These are the smells of Autumn round these parts, and being present in 'that place' when I run I'm able to appreciate and savour every sense I have. It's all too easy for our senses to be lazy during our day to day living and not to notice these things. But this is yet another reason why I run -

Woodsmoke - The smell of impending Autumn if ever there was one! The smell, plus the wisps of smoke from the little chimneys - Lovely!
Apples - can't get away from that one round these parts. I adore the smell of the apples - thousands of them - on the trees, or freshly plucked and sat in their crates waiting for collection by the local Co-op
Bacon - I guess this isn't exclusivley autumnal but at 7am it's pretty darn good regardless of the time of year!! Gets me motivated to get home and have that lovely hubby of mine whip up his breakfast sandwich special - omelette, cheese and crispy bacon on a wholewheat muffin!
Tumble Dryer - Is it just me? I LOVE the smell that kicks out the vent when the tumble dryer is on it's cycle. It's so warm and homely - and somehow very 'fall-like' (on looking for a suitbale picture for this one Google images didn't come up with much to convey what I meant. It was either dull techical pictures of vents or a sad story from the Daily Telegraph about a puppy that had got it's head stuck in a tumble dryer vent!!)
Rain - or rather the smell just before the rain - that freshness and the smell of the plants as they come alive. We typically have such a dry summer the smell of rain is always a welcome sign of the season changing.

What do you sense on your runs?

I'm linking up to Jill's Fitness Friday.