Tomorrow at dawn we run once more into the breach, my friends. Again we will don the lycra and trainers, the sports bras and comfy knickers, and the ladies will probably do this too. We will listen once again to the encouraging and wise words of Sarah, Jo, Sanjeev, Michael or Laura, and once again we will quietly curse them when they say that there's just one more run, or five more minutes.
We will huff, and we will puff, as we try to remember how to breathe and move at the same time. We will lift our feet in time to our music, no matter how leaden they may feel, we will watch as the snails wave as they pass us with ease. Many of us will face the torture of slight inclines that appear to be mountains, and feel the brief ecstasy as we travel down the other side, which in a cruel twist of fate is a disproportionally short distance compared to that which we have just climbed.
They may be goat poohs to dodge, puddles to leap, overly friendly dogs to defend ourselves against, perhaps even those non runners who would like us to stop and chat, children who want to run alongside us and mock our efforts - all of these things we will face with courage and determination, never breaking our stride, never veering from our goal.
And at the end, as we wipe the sweat from our brows, as we are glowing a vibrant shade of scarlet, and as our heart rate returns to a less frantic pace, we will grin, we will cheer, and we will raise our fists in triumph - because we are Runners, and we have RUN!
No matter which run you're all on tomorrow, be it your W1R1, the dreaded W5R3, or, like me, the fabled W9R3, enjoy it - you got this.
Learning to run more slowly
MORE RUNNING THOUGHTS...............AND A CRITICAL MASS
Wrong direction?
