It’s 2am and I’m puffing and sweating my way through the cool down walk after a cold, painful but ultimately successful second run.
It was that or nothing and I’ve only just got back into this so I’m really not prepared to miss a run. It was always my intention to run tonight, although I was aiming for maybe 11pm but you can’t alway get what you want. Luckily I managed to get what I need.
So the plan was finish work, get my partner and kids from a friend’s house, bring them home, make a healthy-ish chilli (my favourite thing to cook), make it a bit less healthy by dumping a load of cheese on top, have dinner, get the kids to bed, hang out for a few hours while dinner goes down and run.
But of course there were minor setbacks, nothing bad but put them all together and before you know it you’re tired and hungry and the kids are late to bed. So we didn’t leave our friend’s house immediately, then I remembered I hadn’t bought mince yet so we put chilli on the back burner, got home, gave the kids their quick and easy dinner and eventually get them to bed after stories, nappies, cream on sore bottoms and, of course, complaints about having to go to bed. Cooking wasn’t going to happen, we decided, so once again it was off to the drive through for a quick, easy and not even a little bit healthy dinner.
And I wonder why I’m out of shape.
Wait, no I don’t.
Ever since I turned 30 my metabolism pretty much ground to a halt overnight, like literally at midnight, and I eat a *lot* of things I shouldn’t. It’s fine, it’s fine, as long as I can see my toes I’m not overly worried.
So we ate, we watched some TV (really loving the Goes Wrong Show right now, if you ever get the chance to see Peter Pan Goes Wrong on stage I highly recommend it, it takes a lot of talent to get things wrong so perfectly) and I waited for enough time to pass before I could run without reuniting with my dinner.
The odds were not exactly in my favour. My legs still hurt from the last run, my food probably needed longer to go down and it was freezing outside. Well, 3 degrees but not far off. I still don’t have combats, my favourite thing to run in, so once again it was a tshirt, hoody and pyjama trousers.
Today’s music was another nostalgic revisit of my original runs: Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads. I’m a classic rock fan at heart but I always have time for a bit of 00’s indie rock. There are three great running songs in particular on this album that really work for me: Never Miss a Beat, Good Days Bad Days and Half the Truth.
Anyway I put Jo Whiley on and headed out into the night, once again sticking to the road. It really was cold so I was grateful when the first run began and I got through that and the next one fairly easily. However, I did start to get a bit of pain by this point. In addition to my legs, I also had a mild but sharp pain in my lower left side and the muscles around my back and shoulders got a bit tight.
But it was nothing too bad so I powered through. I encountered no one this time, so that was nice. In fact I noticed most of the lights in the houses and flats were off. I know it’s late but isn’t it Friday night? Sure there are families and old people living here but there are also a lot of students. They shouldn’t be sleeping at a reasonable time, they should be up late being drunk and irresponsible! God I miss 2005...
It was a pretty decent run in the end but another half hour before heading would’ve been preferable if it hadn’t been so late already. But I kept my food down, the pain wasn’t too bad and I made it through. No difficulties but only just, this run pushed me right to the edge of my capabilities and I’m really looking forward to the days when I can do more again.
It hasn’t left me completely. With 10 seconds left at the end I sped up into a sprint so there’s still something there.
Now I really want to fit this thing back into a nice tidy weekly structure for no reason other then I prefer it that way so I’m going to aim for one run every two days until I can get it back into a Monday, Wednesday, Friday structure, assuming life lets me, which it almost certainly won’t. Failing that, I’ll just do it whenever I can.
So next run is, in theory, on Sunday night. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to cook first but I already know that’s going to be a frantic day so we’ll see.
Fish, chips and mushy peas!
Hello all - 71 years old and hoping to run!
FAQ Post C25K COMPLETED…….WHAT NEXT?
