I know, at my age it's silly to start talking about crushes, but I think I've just experienced my first crush since school.....
I'll own up and confess all to Mr D-d later today when he gets back from volunteering at our local vaccination centre, but for now I just want to keep it to myself..... , and everyone here obviously!
It all started with my quest to slow down my pace and rediscover my inner snail, ready for stretching out into those longer runs that I so want to reclaim. My shorter runs have been run unintentionally at quite a brisk pace for me, some of them sub 7 minutes/km and I have found slowing down really hard.
I have been running without music for the past few months, as I didn't like feeling cocooned by headphones and not fully aware of my surroundings, especially after being taken by surprise by a very big dog on one run 😱. Because I run on the heathland and woodland trails near my home I love to hear all the birds, so I do like running without music. However sometimes it is nice to listen to a podcast or a playlist of songs for walks, as the slower tempo encourages me to slow down my pace.
For a long time I have also wanted to try Nike Run Club, so often mentioned on here, but my ancient iPhone wouldn't run the app. When it finally started to give up the ghost last month, I updated to a newer refurbished iPhone and yesterday I downloaded the NRC app.
This week I treated myself to some Aftershockz headphones. They arrived yesterday and what a revelation they are. It's like taking the radio outdoors in the garden with you, but only you can hear it plus all the birdsong too. I love them, plus there's none of that muffled buzziness in the ears afterwards that I was getting with in-ear buds.
I linked the NRC app to Spotify and my Garmin watch (I really do not recognise myself in that sentence - I thought I was technophobic!) , chose "First Run" from the guided runs list and set off this morning for my 5 min warm up walk. I pressed play on the run, and that's when it happened...... ☺️❤️
Coach Cory entered my life..... 🥰 His straight talking makes him my kind of a guy. The fact that I had Spotify's "Feelin' Good" playlist running as well in the background probably factors. He guided me through the run, ensuring I ran slowly and his reminders kept my pace down. This was one of the most enjoyable runs I've had in ages. When Coach Cory gave the instruction to take a photo of myself to celebrate the end of my run, I did, but only for Coach Cory, you don't want to see my wind-swept little beetroot face grinning from ear to ear.
Fabulous450 has her wonderful Sgt Mjr Garmin, I have my Coach Cory. I fully expect he is easing me in gently, as he sounds like he can do the tough talking when needed, but that's fine by me, I prefer to know where I stand.
Much as I would love to keep him to myself, I know it's good to share, so if like me you were wondering what the NRC app was all about, based on my first run alone I can recommend it. I am really looking forward to "The Next Run" and finding out what Coach Cory has lined up for me.
A big thank you to everyone on here who posts their NRC runs. I had been reading them with interest, now I finally know what it's all about!
Happy running everyone 🥰🏃♀️🏃♂️
Sometimes - You need something.
Runniversary running
