Hello everyone and a happy new year to you all. Let’s hope 2020 gives everyone the clear vision it promises. It wasn’t a great start in that regard - I went to a Christmas singsong where they dished out songsheets with very small font in a dimly lit hall, and for the first time in my life I could not, however far away I held the bloody thing, read the words. A well-meaning young twenty-something kept pointing to where we were in the verse and I had to tell her it didn’t matter where she pointed, I still couldn’t read it. In the end I used my phone to take photos of the lyrics and blow them up to a decent size... points for being able to use tech, anyway. So in 2020, when I leave the house, I now check for phone, keys, purse... and reading glasses. It’ll be incontinence pads next.
Running has been sporadic. I look longingly and fearfully at JuJu’s 10k plan and wonder if I will ever run 5k/30m ‘comfortably’, which is the suggested starting point.
I had six weeks or so of not running (comfortably or uncomfortably) due to a horrible flu-like virus that settled on the chest and made me breathless just saying a sentence. My mother and my son came down with it too, so it was a bit grim. Mum cancelled Christmas, she was feeling that bad - and then had some sort of fit on Boxing Day that resulted in an ambulance trip and a day in hospital. She seems a bit better now, and what with school and work restarting tomorrow and the Christmas chocolates nearly eaten, perhaps some healthier routines can re-emerge.
I did go for a run on Christmas morning. It was a beautiful sunny morning with barely a car on the roads. It is so much easier to start a run when the day is yours and the sun is shining. It felt good to be out and I planned to run again in a couple of days, but what with the Boxing Day drama and it’s aftermath, then New Year excesses... another week rolled by.
Then yesterday, the nice twenty-something who tried to help me with the songsheet walked past as I was in my shed and suggested we go for a run together. I will add at this point that as well as being young, she is slim and fit-looking and her remark about not having run for ages didn’t reassure me. I warned her I would be slow, and she said “great!” I don’t mean to sound churlish - it is great! - but I am sure the slower runners (and those who need the occasional walking breather) amongst you will understand my trepidation. I rolled out of bed this morning and pulled on my calf sleeves, sipped on a coffee and splashed cold water on my face. Then we were off. She loped along, in a bouncy gazelle-stride. I think I would need two dozen large helium balloons on each shoulder to achieve that level of bounce. Apparently she used to run with her dad in the hills of Cornwall. She was definitely C25K conversational on the Kent hillocks. She asked lots of questions and was completely charming, but I’m afraid my answers became shorter and shorter the further we went. I had to have half a dozen walk breaks for 20 seconds or so, just to recover my breath and engage in conversation, before setting off again. Actually, it was really nice to have company and I took her down a track I haven’t been before when I have run alone, because I felt braver as a pair - I just felt I was holding her back and my pride (goodness knows how that is still hanging about) struggles with that. More learning to do!
Garmin tells me I have been ‘overreaching’ and now need 3 days to recover from my slowest (ever?) run/walk, which could be a little sobering. But hey. I’m just looking at that first 6km of many to come in 2020.
See you soon x
A lovely xmas present run
Stress-busting run?! 🤣 
Longest run
Afternoon run/walk
I Just Couldn't Drum up the Enthusiasm to Run Today 😞
