Hello everyone... welcome to the last week and a bit, of August. Can you believe it? I can't!
Here in Catch-Up Corner... it's a special week, because this week, for me, is all about CELEBRATION...more of that later !
Now...What, I hear you ask is there to celebrate?
I answer very loudly. YOU!
Every runner, I feel, does recognise the need to celebrate certain milestones?
* Realising that something is not right...
* Feeling unfit, sluggish, tired...
* Getting up from the couch...
* Starting C25K...
* Graduating C25K...
The list goes on, but...what about the little milestones, the important ones...?
* Getting out of a cosy, warm bed to head out into a cold wet morning... for a run.
* Sneaking out early, so as not to wake the rest of the house...for a run.
* Fitting a run in when you are overtired from work... or a wakeful night with a small one...
* Finding a run after illness or injury and heading out with your heart in your mouth, just in case it all goes wrong.
* Heading out when your heart is heavy, but your feet carry you anyway?
This list goes on.... and it is so, so important.
It is really important that, wherever you are on this programme, whatever level you are at... you remember that this is YOU, doing this, you began it, you are running it and that is such an achievement.
I am so lucky that I, have the honour to witness this... and share your ups, your downs, your joys and your sorrows, ( not just running related )!
So now I am the first in line to say, well done, Congratulations!
But, why should you bother to celebrate your running?
Well, first off, it will help you appreciate how far you’ve come, then it will keep you motivated... give you that feeling of well being, leave you feeling good and wanting more of the same.
So... here you are, standing there, feeling good and so, time to act!
1) Go on.... shout it out....you've got it... flaunt it...tell somebody... tell somebody just how awesome you are! Someone you know who will be so proud of what you have achieved! Family, friend, workmate, or someone you know who you think might want to have a share in the whole thing!
2) Now... you know and I know... that you are a runner...so the next thing to do is... call yourself a runner. You don't need to be fast, or stylish or look like what people think runners should, look like, ( whatever that means), you go out and you run regularly and to the best of your ability, and that means... you are a runner! Celebrate that !
3) Times are hard right now.... but if you are able , give yourself something... if you have a bit of spare cash...cook a special meal, have a treat, just small, but something, and if not... pick up a pebble, take a photograph..., pick a flower,( not protected), and press it... a memento of this day !
Now I hear you ask again, WHY, should I do this, well, the answer really is so simple...
Because my friends... YOU deserve it !
YOU deserve to be celebrated and I am doing that right now, and I want you to join in with me!
You could have looked at the C25K programme and changed your mind, you could have stayed on the couch, put your feet up and done nothing.
But you did not...you chose to change your life, taking control of your body and your health and fitness... physical and mental...
YOU chose to become a RUNNER !
CELEBRATE THAT... YOU are AWESOME
OK.
I, and the rest of us want to hear what you are doing to celebrate that fact... !
Oldfloss x
P.S.
I am in a really celebratory mood , as this week, as on the 25th, Mr OF and I celebrate our 49th Wedding Anniversary...50 Years since we first declared out love for each other and our golden Wedding Anniversary next year!
We are celebrating of course ... and me? With a run, first thing.... what else?
Floss x
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Oldfloss
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All good with me. Still running, upping the distance slowly, getting a bit faster but most importantly have really found the joy in running. The lazy part of my brain still doesn’t want to go but I’m enjoying it while I’m out as well as when I come back.
That's great to hear! I'm currently on the IC with more ankle issues but getting my daily running fix from the forum and busying myself with my physio exercises and some occasional cycling. Determined to get back out there 🙂
Your posts ring so true, are such a pleasure to read and always give me a smile. I have done W6R2 again (!) - but that's ok and I am happy to be able to get out and do what I do. I always feel energised when I get home which sets me up for the day.Very best wishes for your 49th anniversary tomorrow . 🥂 🎂 xx
Hello Liz-is-trying, Just noticed the similarities in our choice of our names. I started at 61 so was 61 and trying, but after my 62nd birthday decided to go for my current name which will last longer, now nearly 66. Also, like you, I have just completed W6R2. I have been through c25k a number of times, currently under a physiotherapist to help me through my injuries. Well done on your run, now we are on to continuous runs which I am pleased about although I am not finding the runs really easy, but hope to press on, currently needing to reduce my stride length to ensure that I don't over stretch my left hamstring.
Hi Over62! I could have written your post myself! My background is a replica of what you wrote. I have just got home from W6R3. I always find it difficult but am delighted when I’ve completed it😁. I cannot do it without the voice in my ear. I need to find something after week 9 to listen and guide/instruct me. Fortunately (🤞) and amazingly I haven’t had hamstring problems this time. I have in the past but now I do short strides and slow pace- and am grateful I have been ok. Squat exercises help also I understand.
Your name caught my attention together with being in week 6 so I had a look at your previous posts. I was very interested to read of the pain that you experienced in your buttock! Sorry! Ages ago while running at an easy conversational pace my right hamstring went ping and it took me a while to recover and continue my running. Two years ago while pruning I fell from a 3 foot wall which resulted in several knee injuries, crutches, leg brace and a slow recovery I had 13 months of problem free running, but then a bad flareup of knee problems. Two months off, reached week 5 of c25k then a hamstring problem. Oh dear! This time it is my left leg and there was no 'ping' moment. I just was aware of pain. During W5 I decided it was too bad to continue running. I have also experienced horrid pain in my left buttock, but this didn't happen with my previous hamstring problem. I am currently seeing a physio for my knee (worst injury 2/3 torn through medial meniscus), Achilles tendon and hamstring. It was this physio who advised me that I could run but with a reduced stride length. I do feel that it is a shuffle more than a run!Happy injury free running to us both! 😊🏃🏻♀️🌸
I had physio treatment for piriformis syndrome, years ago, when the buttock pain was bad- and (🤞) been ok since! I looked at your achievements and am in awe of what you have done! You do really well! If we run when injured it can make everything so much worse. I am the same age as you as well!
I am quite slow but that doesn’t bother me- as long as I can carry on. I call it jogging- not running- but that’s ok with me.
So we are the same age as well. My 66th birthday will be in October. I had hoped to gradually build up to a half marathon for a 66th birthday gift, but clearly that will not happen. Perhaps next year. My knee is not behaving like a normal knee. The movement I need to avoid is twisting and, I suppose, that is why I can run as no twisting is required. I really don't feel that anyone should be in awe of me! We are all on our own running journeys, aren't we? I wasn't a couch person when I began running and have always kept up some form of exercise. Running is so convenient, although I really like the sight seeing aspect and I have now close to exhausted nearby routes. Yes definitely want to run safely and hope that you manage it too. 😊🏃🏻♀️💐
You're doing brilliantly.. I started at 65...First HM at 69...still slow, still steady and still running at 72...we must be doing something right, we seasoned runners??? Xxx
What prefect timing for me Floss!Just yesterday I was discussing with Mr BBR how much I was missing my running which has been squeezed out of late. I do tend to put myself last and I just haven't found the time to fit running in.
Mr BBR likes to go for long walks (and so do I) but we have decided to sometimes fit my run in within a walk together, or he will go for a walk on his own while I run.
So I am celebrating my return to regular running again.🎉🎉🎉
I do like to spend time with my daughter and grandson, so have been making sure I'm available at all times, but will try to make good use of my free time.
Time to dust off my running shoes, take back control, say no to that slice of cake and head out for some me time. I know that I will feel rejuvenated and fabulous afterwards...
Happy Anniversary to you tomorrow Floss and Mr OF, have a wonderful day reminiscing of your great adventures together over the last 50 years 🥂🍾
What a wonderful thing to celebrate... a return to running! And... celebrating YOU and how important you are to so, so many folk... especially that small person!
But realising YOU need time to be you and to take that time.... This all sounds fantastic and can be worked into your busy schedule perfectly. I know Mr OF and I had started a , him walk and me run, situation but then it got lost somewhere!
Enjoy the return, take it steady and slow and maybe do have a small treat of something nibblesome, to celebrate the occasion!
Thank you for your good wishes... we shall enjoy our day whatever we do, and weather permitting it may start with a short jogette xxx
Ooooh Happy, happy anniversary for tomorrow OF!😘🤗🤗This is such a sunny, positive, wise post - it has really perked me up. 😄
I have been on the IC for over two weeks, having fallen & hurt some toes - you don’t realise how much constant hard work a big toe does until it can’t!
Never mind, the crutches are now obsolete and I managed to wear a closed shoe for a couple of hours yesterday. I have been climbing the walls with no exercise- not just no running, but no walking or cycling or even 3/4 of my usual Pilates😱 🙄
Things are now looking up, I can walk a couple of miles & am moving up from “stroll & hobble” pace, I’ve had a first tentative attempt on a bicycle yesterday – ( I arranged my foot within the total clips extremely carefully- eek!) . No running yet, but I’m waiting for ya….!
I am so glad, and it is good to know that you are here!
Toes.... though they may be small, ( even the big one), can be trickly little blighters! You have really had a time of it... and it sounds very painful indeed.
It has got to have been very very hard to avoid hurting them further. JUST OUCH!!!!
So... celebrate the walk... celebrate the timorous cycle ride and CELEBRATE the fact that the runs will be there when YOU are ready!
Hello Elfe5, So sorry that you have had a fall. I wonder if you could carry out sit ups as they at least don't use toes or perhaps use hand weights in the sitting position. Here are some flowers to say get well soon 🌹🌸🌺🌼🌻🌷💐 Where were you with your running prior to your fall? I am glad that you have moved on from the crutches stage.
Hello >61, lovely to hear from you & thank you for the flowers. 🤗 You are absolutely right, I worked out that sit ups were the only thing I could do!! I don’t own hand weights, but I do have tins of beans! 😂 Fortunately, things have improved a bit since then.
I was just completing C25K yet again (after a long gap with PF). Looking forward to getting going again when I can.
Hello Elfe5, Well after my knee flare up and a two month break, I began c25k again. Reached W5R3, but decided that the pain in my left hamstring was too bad for running and so followed another 2 week break. Currently seeing a physio for help with my right knee (my most serious injury), left Achilles tendon and left hamstring. Next appointment 8th September. The physio said that I can run as long as I use a short stride length so as not to stretch my hamstring. It was very odd initially endeavouring to reduce my stride length, but I seem to have adapted to it. More a shuffle than a run. I repeated the week 4 and 5 runs and completed w6r2 this morning.
My physio exercises take about 3/4 hour; I want to be a good patient and carry them out carefully. It hasn't always happened because of visitors, various time commitments and a mini holiday. I changed physios after two visits so that I could go to the nearest clinic a 5 minute drive instead of over ½ hour. I forgot to ask certain questions and I'm not really sure which of the knee exercises and how many I should be doing. Look forward to more guidance at my next appointment.
Oh goodness, you have had a tough time. You sound like you need your favourite music to go with all that physio - but yes, I know how very time consuming it can be. I hope your next appt is really helpful.🤗I will restart running when I can use my toes more normally - there’s still a lot of pain with particular movements to do with every day balance. - I guess when I can walk briskly without significant pain.
Today’s success was managing an hour on the tandem with Mr E, wearing my proper cycling shoes (necessary to avoid PF from over flexing). Just being able to cycle a bit is so much better than nothing.
Fingers crossed your next physio appt is good - I always take a written list of questions because otherwise I forget! 🙄
An hour on the tandem with Mr E sounds impressive. How many hours would you usually cycle together when in 'normal good' health?
I have Classic Fm on for my exercises. Usually relaxing. The exercise problem is due to the fact that my first physio didn't either fill in the gaps on the email she sent about number of repeats and when she gave me the second set of exercises didn't tell me whether these were in addition to the first set or in place of the first set.
When I changed physio I confess I came out of my appointment feeling emotionally bruised! My appointment was meant to be a follow up to the previous knee appointments and the physio was not pleased at all that my current problem preventing running was my hamstring. In the end she did examine my hamstring and was helpful. As I was leaving she told me to carry out exercises once a week. On arriving home, I wondered did she want me to do all 6 exercises on one day and no physio on the remaining days or spread them throughout the week. To clarify I rang the admin folk and left a message, the physio returned my call promptly and then said do all the exercises every other day - not what she had said previously at all.
At the appointment she was only prepared to talk about one problem area, although when I asked which problem we'll discuss at the next appointment, she replied, 'All of them.'
I am very definitely a take a list of questions person, but I suppose that a physio telling you what exercises to do, how many and how often seems so basic that I hadn't written it down. And the emotional battering I received because I wanted help with my hamstring didn't help me think clearly. I intend to be all prepared next time.
Apologies for my long reply. Thank you for 'listening'.
Sorry for my slow reply 0-61, - spinning too many plates🙄 - but happy to’listen’. I’m so sorry you had such a rough time at physio- it really sounds like she was having a very “off day”. I hope the next appt is much better. It’s very frustrating when you are unsure about exercises quantities.
Time on the tandem - well a routine trip from home might be 1-2 hours, but on holiday we might cycle over the whole day with tea breaks - then get off & waddle like a cowboy!! 😂😂
We have always had a tandem - over 36 years now. It’s a good, social way to cycle together- on quiet roads we can chat to each other, (can’t hear over traffic) - on separate bikes we would be ever increasing miles apart because Mr E is fitter & faster than me - then he gets cold stopping & waiting. 😄
Thank you my friend... it has gone by in a blink... but so much fun!You have much to celebrate too my friend...from that first step out of the door.. to where you are now...maybe a slice of cake?
I have had plenty of slices of cake recently, my own birthday in May then THREE parkrun birthday celebrations, one in May and two in July, so I will share your anniversary 🎂 cake virtually. 😊 👍
Happy anniversary to you 🥂 thank you for a lovely Post. I do find it hard to call myself a runner (plodder I say!) But like you said, I get up earlier than I have to so I can get a run in and it sets me up for the day. And I've done it on my own which is an achievement in itself. When I ran 6 years ago I was in a group which I enjoyed and needed that push but I'm proud to be doing this alone. To celebrate for me it's a nice cold g&t. Cheers x
Thank you... I can hardly believe... 50 years since we got together!
Well, you have said it yourself, so I know what I feel you should celebrate... calling yourself a RUNNER, because that is exactly what you are. Plodder you may be, snail I may be, but we are still RUNNERS... we run, at our own pace and for our own pleasure!
Getting up early, another cause to celebrate!
Doing it on your own, tick number 3 !
That G and T sounds a perfect treat, and I shall be joining you tomorrow evening ! Thanks for this great reply... Cheers! x
I just love your positive posts Old Floss 🥰 such a lovely message to share so we do all celebrate the small as well as the large running milestones. Wishing you and Mr OF a very happy wedding anniversary 💍 🥂 x
Thank you.. the post really came from the mood and how I was feeling. So much to celebrate and yet, sometimes we lose sight of that... and forget just how important we are. The runners on here and the other forums achieve so much and sometimes against the most incredibly high odds. I have read posts this last few days where folk are battling against illness or injury and yet are still heading out, sometimes for the first time!
You have done wonderfully in your running so far and have so, so much to celebrate too !
OMG i was thinking of an answer and got to the end and flipping heck we got married in the same day …… sadly my husband and I parted ways 10 years ago but that’s some coincidence
Happy Anniversary to you and Mr Oldfloss 🎈💕🌸🎉 And pleased to read elsewhere that your running journey is continuing.
After a gardening fall from a 3 foot wall which resulted in several knee injuries, crutches, leg brace and a slow recovery I had 13 months of problem free running, but then a bad flareup of knee problems. Two months off, reached week 5 of c25k then a hamstring problem. Two weeks off and then repeated some runs and now W6R2 this morning with restricted stride length as prescribed by my physio - very slow and steady, but at least I am running. Looking forward to the next run. 😊🏃🏻♀️
Happy anniversary!! I hope you both have a great day!
Thank you for such a positive, cheerful post! I celebrated being a runner this morning, running through the pouring rain in a running vest and shorts! After training through the heat of the summer for my marathons, today's weather was the best treat I could ask for!
50 years! Fantastic--a real cause for celebration! I am on the cusp of celebrating a breaking free from my current environment, if only for a run. If Son Who Encouraged Me to Run in the FIRST Place would only take over everything here soon.... He is finishing something and due any moment now. I am chomping on the bit!
Oh I am intrigued and I have everything crossed for you and whatever you are moving forward to !! Running has to be involved though !!Thank you... we got together 50 years ago this year, but next year is the anniversary of our marriage
Happy Anniversary! What a wonderful thing to be celebrating. 🍾 🥂 💕
I’ve been a bit flat this week after having to pull out of a race I’d been looking forward to. Illness and general life have kept me from running as much as I’d like to recently and some unwelcome gremlins made an appearance. Probably pre HM nerves earlier than expected telling me I wasn’t going to make it and there wasn’t enough time left. Logically I know that’s rubbish!
Today, I had a super run and all the negativity got blown away. I’d been putting off the long run and finally got on and did it. I am now at couch to…ten miles! Plus bonus PBs for 5k and 10k as part of that run. Lots of celebration here! Hoping to take the high into next week.
Yes indeed, a big one next year... ! Thank you!Oh dear.... sometimes things do seem to conspire against us... I do remember about three weeks before first HM, really wondering if at my age for my first one. (69), I had made a huge mistake...but then as it got closer... all nerves vanished and on the day itself, fine
I am so glad that your run whizzed all those worries away!! 10 miles... oh yes... I remember that well too!! It is a real milestone !!!
HUGE well done for you, it is so exciting , just saying the words, 10 MILES!!!!!!!
PBs too... you have SO much to celebrate... float into next week on that wonderful feeling!!!
A slightly belated happy anniversary to you and Mr OF 💐🍾. Lovely post as always. I've been doing my own bit of celebrating this week. It was my birthday yesterday and I celebrated by doing my first Parkrun today. You're so right, we all need to celebrate the fact that we made that decision to get up off the couch and start this programme. Whether we're recent new baby runners or old hands so three cheers for all of us👏👏👏👏👏. Oh I'm also having a mini celebration for losing 3 stone ☺️(only 2 more to go) 🤣
I finished week 2 today, looking forward to week 3 :).
What makes me happy is that my other half has started again too. He didn’t get covid, but I think his competitive streak meant he stopped running when I did :p. He just started week 4 - also repeating weeks. I tend to be a bit more motivated than him, so I’m sure I will catch up in weeks even if I won’t ever catch up in distance or time :p.
And I know I shouldn’t pay too much attention to what my watch tells me, but I have noticed my heart rate coming down faster and further on the walking segments than they did the first time around.
It is nice to know that the first almost 9 weeks are still playing off :).
That is good news, and more reasons to celebrate also!
We should celebrate these moments... you have chosen to change aspect of your life, taking care of your body, mentally and physically... and enjoying it too... how awesome is that!
Goodness, here in the UK there are few things to celebrate currently... so you go for it !
Happy Anniversary, wow 49 years that’s amazing, congratulations 🥳 It’s great when you find your soul mate isn’t it. We celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary on the 29th Aug and it was my 60th birthday on the 24th August, and after the year we’ve had it’s so good to have something to celebrate, we even went for a run on the morning of our anniversary ☺️🏃♀️🏃 x
Wow that is a truly inspirational post thank you. I just finished run2 of w7 yesterday and I felt so proud of myself still keep saying I can't believe I done that. Anyway happy anniversary 🎉 enjoy.
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xxx
App that announces distance run?
Wk9r3 done ✅🍾🏆🏃🏽♀️🎉
