Hello my lovelies!
It’s been a while... I have been watching your progresses admiringly from my inactive sideline. I am glad of this forum, here to dive in and out of as our running lives take us.
Falling in love with a man who lives a three and a half hour drive away has played havoc with my routines. It isn’t just the travelling and the cocooned weekends; it’s the long chats on the telephone, the daydreaming, the writing of letters and poems and drawing of pictures... there is a languor of limb and a distraction of mind that doesn’t naturally translate to pulling on the running shoes.
My Spending Justification Formula of price divided by number of uses, when applied to the Garmin FR235, equals expensive. All those lovely statistics that I used to wallow in now reproach me - it isn’t my pace or distance that is increasing but the number of days (and weeks) between runs.
As you will see from the graphic, there has been a sharp drop in distance run each month, from 51km in February, to 48km (over three weeks) in March, to 8km, then 7.5km. Those distances in April and May were represent two runs per month.
My bum definitely feels wobblier and I miss that feeling of (literally) having a spring in my step that running gave me. It is time for change.
So on Saturday morning, whilst my feller lay sleeping, I crept out of bed and pulled on undies, compression socks, compression calf sleeves, leggings and top (he was awake and blearily confused by then), went downstairs, put on the shoes, selected the Nike Run App ‘Next Long Run’ and left the house, feeling a bit dazed. I didn’t even know where I was going, but pausing to think about it might have stalled me permanently.
Ten days earlier I ran 3km and had to take a breather at around the 12 minute mark. I pretended to myself that I was just stopping to take off a layer and reorganise, but I know the truth; I was winded and out of shape. I realised for about the fiftieth time that I had gone off too fast again. A minute of heavy breathing and I was off again, chalking up a solid 20 minutes of red-faced, sweaty running. It was such hard work and reminiscent of those first longer runs on C25K.
It felt different this time. I think I realised on the earlier run that it isn’t about improving my speed, or even my distance, any more; it is about running regularly to feel good. Maybe if I run regularly, those other things will come; maybe there will come a time I need to set some goals; but for now, I just want to run again. The podcast in my ear was perfect; Coach Bennett is good company. I started at the right pace, maintained the right pace, and finished at the right pace, running pretty comfortably, mouth closed, for 30 minutes. No stops, not even at the little zig zag stile set on a steep grassy bank. During the run, I could feel the hip flexors more than anything else; my legs were tired the rest of that day; and my calves are a little sore today - but I am amazed and so grateful that after running about once a fortnight for two months, I am still able to run for 30 minutes.
I am battling a sore throat and a hangover today, so the sunny evening run I envisaged might not be the best idea; but if it doesn’t happen today, it will tomorrow, or whenever this passes. It’s good to be back.
week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
How did your parkrun or (not)parkrun go?
