After a largely sleepless night and a pre-dawn start followed by a morning of endless rabbit skinning, leavened only by shouting at the radio during the Archers omnibus until my children had to come in and tell me off for swearing, I was definitely ready for some fresh air. Between Roy's philandering, Adam and Charlie playing footsie in the forage harvester and Jennifer's guilt, I am almost reaching the point of switching off after 40-odd years.
So going out for another run seemed a good option by lunchtime, regardless of how grim it could be.
I set out with lots of positive mantrae cycling round in my head, mainly because I felt a bit of a fraud telling other people not to be discouraged by bad runs and then doing exactly that. I made a conscious effort to run a minute/km slower than my usual pace. It didn't help. After 3km I had clocked exactly my normal time and was thoroughly miserable. try as I might, I couldn't stop second guessing myself all the time. Was my breathing okay? Was I going to get my mojo back? Why wasn't enjoying myself?
But I plodded on regardless. The next couple of klicks I was mainly preoccupied with a discomfiture and unpleasant sticky feeling in my left toebox. By the time I hit 6k I relaised I was running pretty much normally again. Around 8k I felt a slight pre-ache in my knee so decided discretion was the better part of valour and called it a day at 9.
Home, with the knee iced and twingefree again, and the aroma of restorative slow-cooked rabbit stew wafting around I am in a much better frame of mind than yesterday. I didn't do half the distance I was doing a couple of weeks back or need to do in a couple of weeks time, but it felt possible again. Little and often is my strategy at the moment. push just to the point before It feels it might be too much. Get that confidence back. Eat rabbits. (I know I have waxed lyrical about my largely plant based diet now, but Mopsy Flopsy and Cottontail have been decimating our winter greens, and maintaining a plant based diet through the winter months requires a few bunny casseroles in Autumn.)
In other news, having signed up to another ludicrous exercise thing called the 100 x 100 challenge, I have got my children to agree to a 5 x 5 challenge: they each have to do 5 miles a week for 5 weeks. They can run, cycle, swim, scoot or any combination thereof, in any splits they want - 5 x 1mile, 1 x 5mile, 10 x 1/2 mile etc. I will 'sponsor' them 50p a mile, payable on completion of the whole thing. Elder son was very excited as he saw an opportunity to pace me on ling runs on his bike and make a fortune, but I have capped the payments at the 5 mile/week level.
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Rignold
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Hey, you certainly don't let the grass grow under your shoes do you ? You always have something on the go, and well done on roping the kids in .You will get your mojo back, its there, just needs bringing to the fore again.
Great to hear you have a plan. Life/everything is always better when there is a plan.
If you feel moved to ethnically cleanse fluffy, bobtail and their entire family, please let me know. They live in our veg patch. Husb once watched Huge Furry Withered-Stall dealing with rabbits and came over all enthusiastic for home 'harvested' rabbit stew. Will buy him pea shooter for Xmas.
Please continue with the Ambridge synopsis cos I don't always manage to listen in.
So...are you doing 100 miles a weeks for 100 weeks ? Surely not...
There is no fidelity in Ambridge, never has been and probably never will be....
Wish I had some rabbit casserole, I love rabbit but OH won't eat it...
You are a curmudgeon and a spoilsport for not encouraging your son's entrepreneurial spirit...
9k is not a bad 'holding' distance, you'll be back on top form soon..
Good luck and have a good week...hope for some happy running.
Agree with everything Henpen said, apart from eating rabbit. OH was brought up on a farm, so would eat it with gusto. I, on the other hand, was traumatised as a townie kid when my friend's pet bunny was stolen, cooked and eaten by an unpleasant but hungry neighbour! And have to agree with you. What on Earth is going on in Ambridge?? Elizabeth and Roy was frankly ridiculous, but Charlie and Adam? No way!!
Sorry rest of post disappeared again: I had temporarily been put off TA because of the extreme unlikeliness of either hideous Elizabeth or repulsive Roy being sexually attractive to anyone, let alone each other, and being totally fed up with R mooning around E like a lovesick puppy and lying to Hayley even after being found out, but am not totally surprised if Adam and Charlie have indeed got it on: I had wondered if they would be next in line to play jiggy and A does have form in the infidelity dept.... Listeners have had to endure ridiculous deaths (I still haven't come to terms with Nigel's demise), creepy lovers (Rob and Helen), out of character behaviour (Lilian and Fallon) and on and on and on and on about b****y kitchens: Yet still I can't stop listening!) Though I have only been tuning in for a mere 28 years myself...)
well done on the run and its good you are taking it slow to stop further injury...bunny stew sounds delicious, and I think your idea for the kids is fantastic...well done
I did a run this morning and thought of you. I wondered how you were doing and thought I'm in no way qualified or experienced enough to give you advice, but I do hope your knee and fitness improve in time for your race in a few weeks.
So I'm pleased go pop in here and see this more positive post - good stuff!
Oh how I agree about the Archers. Once they finally get to the end of the Rob/Helen storyline (when is she going to twig what a control freak he is? Thought she was intelligent. Is he going to kidnap Henry then go back to his 'mad' wife who is now pregnant with his child?) I'm going to stop listening because its annoying me.
Well done on the run BTW
(maybe we should have an Archers permanent post, so we could complain about the daft storylines to our hearts content.)
Archers sounds like it's descending into Eastenders! Can't be doing with anything remotely soapy
Skinning endless rabbits! That must be quite an art.
Well done on the 9 k. Best not to overdo things while you still feel a bit tentative aching body wise. That rabbit stew was no doubt restorative. Mmmmmmmmmmmm did you put mushroms in it?
Wild rabbits are the thing to eat. Domestic rabbits nah!
Ha - this is fascinating! I thought I was the only one who shouted as I ran to the Archers synopsis podcast! It certainly makes me run faster, I can tell you Seriously, the story lines at the moment are daft - they think we don't notice when they make the characters a) disappear with no further reference from anyone? b) do things totally out of character (Roy and Elizabeth? REALLY???) and as for the latest: Ruth uprooting her husband, three kids and her mother-in-law because her mother doesn't want to move - Seriously? How flipping selfish is that? And Adam and Charlie - how bloody stereotyped is that - homosexual infidelity everywhere?
Ahem. Sorry. Rant over. Running. yes. Well done for pressing on, and I hope the 100x100 goes well. Very sensible to cap the payment for the kids
Moany Ruth really drives me round the bend. And yes, that Adam can't say no to any gay man in wellies just to spice up the plot lines is ridiculous. It was bad enough with the Polish strawberry picker farrago.
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Seriously, the story lines at the moment are daft - they think we don't notice when they make the characters a) disappear with no further reference from anyone? b) do things totally out of character (Roy and Elizabeth? REALLY???) and as for the latest: Ruth uprooting her husband, three kids and her mother-in-law because her mother doesn't want to move - Seriously? How flipping selfish is that? And Adam and Charlie - how bloody stereotyped is that - homosexual infidelity everywhere?
Not loving it anymore 😞 
W3 daunting? - NOT ANYMORE!!
One year running!!...and two days
Just completed week 6... enjoying it less. 
Week 9 run 1 repeat - successful :-)
