Today was the 5.5k. It had to be today if my tentative plan of doing the 5k at Parkrun remains viable. I loaded my son’s bike into the car and stood at the school gate in lycra, feeling tired.
I’m a bit heavy of heart at the moment. Big questions such as purpose and meaning of life are swirling around. In addition, I watched a documentary called ‘Gamechangers’ a couple of nights ago and haven’t touched animal products since. I can report that soy milk in tea is fine; almond milk is not. I have eaten lots of avacado and bananas and am thinking about cheese a lot. Every vegetarian dish I know seems to involve cheese. I like cheese... I feel I can’t even comfort eat comfortably.
Well, the 5.5k had to be done. I told myself this was going to be the very slow, easy run of the week, calm and controlled.
Off we went, down the river path, my son as usual chattering nine to the dozen, pointing things out, delightful and distracting. I had to stop several times to look at things being pointed out, to give him my gloves, to rescue him from a puddle... who am I kidding? I needed to stop! My pace was all over the shot - my km pace was 6’34”, 6’03”, 5’58”, 6’07”, 6’05”, then a 5’33” blast for the final 500m. Basically, I was doing intervals on the long run and as a consequence had to take a breather at practically every km. I feel like I have cheated.
Unsurprisingly I felt quite ill at the 3.5k mark and was in fact a bit sick. Snot was hanging out of my nose and I had a little gasping cry. But no one was coming to the rescue and my boy was just up ahead, so I wiped myself off and kept running.
And then a lovely thing happened. A man who I had seen running the other way 20 minutes earlier came back past and asked if I was ‘doing the London’? I am 99.9% sure this means he thought I was someone capable of running 26.2 miles. Clearly that question wouldn’t have been asked had he seen me 30 seconds earlier, but but but! I managed to gasp out ‘God no, just Parkrun!’ in reply before he and his angelic halo disappeared round the corner. And as I jogged on, smiling, I noticed how the sun was setting, the sound of the water, how gorgeous the trees looked in the pink light. And my lovely boy peddling ahead of me, pointing out the ducks and delighted to show me a little toy boat, set free on the river.
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ktsok
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That was a good run for you today ktsok, I am also doing the Magic10K plan, it says on the plan that you can either do 5.5K which you have just ran OR run for 35 minutes, yesterday I ran the latter, onwards and upwards 🏃🏾 👍
Goodness that was some run, quick times and very emotional by the sound of things. I hope your happy high at the end stays with you and helps you loosen your heavy heart. Take care, give your little one a hug and yourself a well deserved pat on the back. Happy running
I watched that programme and became veggie. Couldn’t quite commit to vegan....so big a step from my meat eating !! Do cook quite a lot of vegan recipes but do get a bit fed up that everyone seems to be coconut based!
Good on you for the run....fast splits even with walking! I had a tough run 2 on the first week of the magic plan. Thank goodness for the lovely people on here pointing out that maybe we are just a bit harsh on ourselves! New juju week today 😊
Oh well done! The programme was certainly compelling. ‘Cutting out the middleman’ make complete sense from an environmental and health point of view. What was it you missed when you made the switch?
When I think about how cows are artificially inseminated every year and their calves taken away within a few days so we can get their milk, dairy is less appealing, I have to say 😬
This forum is great for reminding us to be kinder to ourselves! And for motivation - good luck with your Magic week 2!
What a beautiful ending to your post. And I love how you’re running along with your boy cycling ahead - you’ll be inspiring him for years to come.
I’m with you on the angst about food, though I haven’t seen Gamechangers. Is it about our health or about animal welfare? We don’t eat meat and I’ve been trying to reduce dairy too, because of how the dairy industry works. It’s easy to become anguished about the whole situation so I’m trying to focus on the positive changes I can make.
Gamechangers focuses more on how animal vs vegetable impacts our strength, endurance, health. It goes a little into how animal farming impacts our environment... really sobering, actually. It doesn’t touch on ethics/animal welfare at all. I’m four days in and still don’t want to touch animal products. I don’t feel I’m depriving myself but it’s time to learn some new recipes, for sure!
Interesting. I’ve never really looked into the health aspect. It’s more been about the animal welfare. I did veganuary (only partially) last year, and saw their documentaries, and can’t get it out of my head 😢
I guess I felt I (sort of) avoided the animal welfare issue by eating less meat, buying organic, free range, etc... it was the stark figures about how much land and water are used for growing the feed to grow the animals, for much much less food + the compelling health arguments that are tipping me. Don’t think I want to watch Veganuary...
Yes I think it’s plain that it would be better for the world if we all ate less meat and dairy. Just important not to let it be at the forefront of our minds as it’s easy to let it get on top of you 😐
Well there you are, you Runner you! Destined for great things as you fartlek along! 🎉👏🏼🎉
On the cheese subject: look for recipes by Anna Jones (she writes for the Guardian). Lots are vegan or she tells you how to substitute. Also Rukmini Iyer - I have her book “The Roasting Tin” and lots of the recipes can easily be adapted. I think there’s a veggie version which would be even easier.
Well done on getting back on the plan. I’m currently roasting myself on a beach in Thailand and seriously considering running early tomorrow morning because I miss it.... and also because I have a lot of catching up to do from a couple of months of illness and injury.
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week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
How did your parkrun or (not)parkrun go?
