No, that isn’t the sound my leg makes when I stand up, the sound my elbow makes when I pick something up, or even the sound my everything makes when I’m just standing there doing literally nothing.
No, that is the metaphorical sound of a run inexplicably clicking for me. Don’t listen out for it, it’s not an actual physical sound and even if it was, I’m not actually there with you so you wouldn’t hear it anyway. Honestly, you people.
So I’m buzzing a bit, again metaphorically, and glowing, literally this time, because I’ve just finished the best run I’ve had since returning to this. That makes me happy enough but it also seems to have happened despite a complete lack of preparation. I saw a running window open up and I jumped through it without checking what was in the other side. Dumb luck was my friend today.
So I didn’t prepare, I hardly ate at all beforehand (not intentionally, just one of those busy days) and I was hungry before I’d even though about running. But a run is a run and I was meant to do this one yesterday so this was my last chance to squeeze the last Week 2 run into Week 2 and I was not going to miss it.
So I headed out, put my music on and got to it. I don’t know what happened but it just worked. I was in a reasonably good mood when I left, still anxious about this whole parking enforcement thing but not angry, for the time being, so maybe this gave me a boost.
It was pretty cold so I went with the usual combats and hoody that serve me well and got on with the warm up walk. I did remember one vital thing and that was to pace myself, so when the first run rolled around, I took it easy and stuck to a sensible speed.
I got through it pretty easily and for the first time since restarting I didn’t get leg or ankle pain. I plowed through it all reasonably easily and I was seriously considering adding a few minutes on to the end.
I didn’t do this, mainly because I was eager to get home and eat, so instead I decided to put a little more into the final run, which felt great. I did do an extra 30 seconds when the run finished but that was due to social anxiety rather than any urge to outdo myself.
During this last run I caught up with a couple walking their dog, which was awkward because we were going in the same direction so I couldn’t just pass them quickly, no that really dragged. Also the dog kept crossing my path. What made it worse was that the run ended when I was just in front of them and I wanted to be well clear of them before walking again so I kept running until I was happy with the distance and I could get on with the cool down walk all alone the way I like it.
Since it was dark I had to stick to the path again this time but that was fine. It was pretty quiet and I didn’t encounter many people apart from that. I did pass the neighbour walking her dog again, so once again I looked like a stalker! I also noticed in a flat window that someone still has their Christmas tree up with the lights on. Part of me thought, look at those idiots, but now I’m wondering if they died and just haven’t been discovered yet. I’ll just have to see how long they keep it up.
So it almost didn’t happen but I completed Week 2 and it went exactly as I want this all to go so I feel good going into week 3. Tomorrow’s a rest day so I should hopefully pick this up on Tuesday.