I posted recently about my foolish friend Richard who announced at the age of 72 he was going to run the local 10.5 km Ronde Ceretane. It’s an annual race. Although an experienced walker he had not run for 6 years.
I couldn’t dissuade him, so trained him up a bit: a 5km jog two weeks before and a run round the 10.5km course a week before.
Anyway, he did it. Shellshocked, but triumphant.
An example NOT to be copied. But I’m pleased for him.
Congratulations to your friend HeavyFoot on completing that 10.5km Ronda Ceretane run, as he walked a lot and ran over 5 years ago with a little trainning for the run he managed it without any difficulties, however, it is not advisable for anyone just to go out and run a 5K, let alone 10K without proper training such as doing C25K.
That’s awesome he was my age when he last ran and I couldn’t imagine starting over after a long break
Glad he did it... and even more glad that he survived in one piece ! Pass on our congratulations... x
Well done to your crazy friend HF. Glad he made it. 🙏🏻
Well done to your friend! Our local 10k is in 2 weeks time and I really wanted to do it, but a combination of the hot summer then covid has stopped me from increasing my distance. Reading your post I'm wondering if I should push myself...?
A heartfelt warning: I hadn’t meant that post to be an encouragement to anyone. I think I wrote it mainly out of relief. Richard knows I think he was foolish.
What were your distances before Covid and the heat? You’ve got two weeks (perhaps 6 runs?) to get ready. Not two runs in 6 years like he did!
I regularly run 5km, up to 3 times a week, and would do longer - 6, 7, 8 -from time to time before the summer. I actually started the NRC HM app in January and got up to the 8km run, the following week would have been a 10 km run but life intervened and it never happened.
For me it's very much a mood thing. Given the right mood I can finish my longer runs feeling I still had something in the tank, but other days 5k is hard work.
I've decided I won't do the 10k this time. I'd like to run the distance at my own pace when I'm in the mood first, just to get the feel of it. I don't want to wake up knowing 'I've got to do this' especially if I'm not properly prepared.
When I do run it I'll be one of the last to finish as I'm built for comfort not speed. In itself this doesn't bother me but if I enter next time, once I've learned how 10k feels, I think I'll enjoy it more.
week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
How did your parkrun or (not)parkrun go?