….that back on May 1st I did not want to reach from a couch position. I wanted to complete C25K by today and had a margin for repeating weeks/injury etc which luckily I didn’t need. I didn’t care about the distance and didn’t even identify what it was – just wanted get to the “run” for 30 mins status. As it was my birthday run was the 2nd of my third week since graduating. I have managed to keep to my 3 per week, early starts. Haven’t posted for a while as busy with the madness of real life. Running is a break from that and I really like starting the day with a clear head. However, now time to share the Milestone runs to note since last post:
MUs Tech Free challenge: Too wet to do usual warm up walk on the grass so headed straight for the road, no earbuds. The church clock is unavoidable - 6.15. Decided I would check phone so I would warm up for the full 5 mins and would then set the timer for 30 mins - not as a goal, but to make sure I didn't do more as I'm consolidating. (Felt ridiculous even thinking I might "do more" - but also rather nice not to see it as a goal, told myself I didn't have to reach it - I just shouldn't exceed it). So, phone firmly back in pocket I trotted off.
Almost immediately inundated by mad thoughts about the day crowding for attention – this is new and unwelcome – I am usually listening to something diverting. Felt wind in my ears – odd as usually plugged with earbuds plus very aware of all the sounds around me, able to really concentrate on breathing as could hear it better - think I slowed down. Gradually mad thoughts took a back seat, and I was able to focus my body and trying to find a rhythm etc. Then for some reason Auden’s “The Night Mail” poem popped into my head – must have been the rhythm and I spent the rest of the run unable to banish it but also unable to remember it all – infuriating. “Snorting noisily as she passes/silent miles of wind-bent grasses” and “In the farm she passes no one wakes/But a jug in a bedroom gently shakes” were easy and I kept repeating them and laughing but being unable to remember “Beattock” I substituted a range of my own local places every time I got to the couplet “Pulling up Beattock a, steady climb/The gradient’s against her, but she’s on time”. I chose a route I knew well that I was pretty sure would use up the time but when I got back to the village the church clock showed I still had another 5 mins to make 30 and I didn’t want to just stop so then moved off on a side loop and ended up doing slightly longer as a result. Realised whilst it was quite interesting to run tech free, I enjoyed it less and it took longer to forget about lists of chores etc. Thought having poems to repeat might be a good thing but will have to revise them first. That said important lesson was that I could do it…
First Rain/Breakthrough Feeling Run– Set off last weekend with an idea I’d go over some fields and found that some of them were really tricky to navigate – something straw-like had been harvested in one, leaving crunchy scratchy stalks, there was a really overgrown footpath in one field and a very lumpy bumpy part elsewhere. When I got to the road again there was a short sharp shower – my first rain on a run in 11 weeks – but over almost as soon as it started and resulted in a lovely rainbow. I’d been going at a necessarily tentative speed because of the terrain, then I started taking photos, then I felt I’d not really been running at all and suddenly I realised everything felt very natural and comfortable – astonishing. I just carried on, via a route I knew would be longer but by not too much. Thought perhaps the very slow pace through the fields had helped and for a good 10 mins at the end of the route I felt I could keep running indefinitely. Still very aware of the need to consolidate and not get over-confident so told myself it was a delusional thought. However, there was no getting away from the great feeling and I’d love to understand how it happened to try and recreate it! I am genuinely enjoying the run – in retrospect I realise this is the first time I can actually say that. (Photos from this run shared)
First 45 mins Run Thought if I still felt good on this run, I WOULD keep going for longer. Had replayed a W9 run and got to a hamlet I’d not reached before. At the 30 min mark I decided to keep going through the five minute warm down walk and at the end of that I was still fine, not quite the totally comfortable feeling of the previous run, but pretty close. Decided I’d see if I could do an extra 10 minutes to make 45. Told myself it was no different to going from W5R2 to W5R3 and I was probably ready. So, I tried it – and did it – and it was fine! Hurrah for me.
Birthday run – confront “the distance” issue. I have resisted knowing how far I run. I am slow and I don’t care but I also thought there was a possibility that if I did know how far short of 5k I was, I could undermine my motivation. But today is a good day to learn since I have already achieved what I set out to do in May, and more. I have also treated myself to 2 running t-shirts as have realised how much more comfortable it is to wear “wicking” clothes (I randomly had a t-shirt already with that feature and it’s so noticeably better). I find my phone has some sort of running health app and decide to use that. Also, I am looking forward to the final 2 episodes of a pod cast I’ve been listening to. I left at 6 am and went off on a route I’d not used before – this was deliberate, so I didn’t have any comparison that I might fixate over. I was surprised by a weird, automated -type voice telling me I’d run 1 km and the pace I’d been going. The next km turned out to be a bit faster, quite unintentionally. Then I had a km of very slippery paths, stones over streams, mud, low hanging branches, granite stiles I literally had to heave myself up and over as they were so high, obviously much slower (don’t care), kept going through the next 2 interruptions about my pace’ – I have done 5km – great! – but I’m not home yet. I am 0.05 km short of 6km by the end and it’s taken me 46 mins. I know I could carry on but it’s not important for me to reach 6 and I absolutely know I could – it’s important to get back for the rest of my birthday happy that I have reached this new year with the couch behind me. I have a gift too, a running belt that has two little water bottles and a pocket for “phone, tissues and snacks”. My sister says she has one, and I will need it for the longer runs ahead. And I think I might…. 😊…. Onwards!
Fish, chips and mushy peas!
Hello all - 71 years old and hoping to run!
FAQ Post C25K COMPLETED…….WHAT NEXT?
