I didn’t go running yesterday because of the weather. This morning the wind had died down somewhat and the rain had pretty much stopped. So I thought I’d go for it.
Disclaimer: these are not my legs. I wouldn’t do that to you ;-)
@dragosroua advised me not to do 21kms as my first run, and this is good advice. But as I told him, I always dream big. So I decided to start off with 10kms and see how that went.
I got up early, about 7am (well it’s early for me ok?) and had some breakfast. Nothing fancy just tea and toast. Then I checked Steemit for a bit, went through the advertising in my email inbox, and generally farted about until my breakfast had had a chance to start digesting.
Then I got into my running gear, shoes, shorts and a t-shirt – all very high tech. I also put on a light shell running jacket that I bought years ago. Sitting in my closet all this time hasn’t done it much harm. It’s almost like new.
Then I snuck quietly out the door, fired up Runkeeper on my phone and told it I was going running.
It didn’t believe me.
So I hit the running option again and it said Ok, then if you think so, but technically what you are going to be doing is called walking.
Then I snuck back inside to get my sunglasses. Doh! Why was I sneaking? I didn’t want to wake my wife. She’s so cute when she’s sleeping….
It’s all downhill from my place to the sea, and my only difficulty in the first part of the run was sore feet and ankles. To be fair, they were sore even before I started running. Doing a hard core session at the gym on New Year’s Eve, figuring I wouldn’t get back there for a few days, probably didn’t help much.
So I ran slowly, trying to keep my pace in check. After about five minutes my body was warming up and I could feel my stride lengthen. It felt good.
This was a trap.
I know it was a trap because I’ve fallen into this trap before. You start feeling good so you run a little faster, and that makes you feel like you’re an actual runner, not some doddery old fart shuffling along the street. So you push it a bit, go a bit harder.
And the next thing you know you are doubled over coughing your lungs, out waiting for the heart attack to kick in. Oh yeah, I’ve been in that trap before!
So I was careful to keep shuffling along at a sedate pace. There were not many people out and about, and almost no runners whizzing past me like I was standing still. It was quite pleasant actually.
I got down to the waterfront and took off my jacket now that I was nicely warmed up. The light breeze wasn’t too cold and it blew from behind me, encouraging me along Oriental Parade.
I was quite happy with how things were going, monitoring my body for new aches and pains. I knew they’d come. Notice I said new aches and pains. I have a good collection of aches and pains gained from a life not lived in cotton wool. I’m used to them and they don’t bother me too much.
It’s the new ones you have to watch out for. They come along all full of vim and vigour, wanting it to be all about them. They overshadow the old aches and pains and get in the way. So it’s good to deal with them early on before the old aches and pains get annoyed and really start hurting to make up for it.
So there I was, not suffering badly, thinking this is going well, when Runkeeper pipes up from my backpack telling me I have run 6.6 kms already.
That was a surprise. I thought I still had at least a kilometre to go to get to the 5km mark.
I was feeling quite pleased with myself at this point. I was running freely, still not very quickly, but freely. Nothing hurt too much and I was making reasonable time (for me).
Then I came around the headland and started the homeward leg. Unfortunately the wind had picked up, and now I was running straight into it. At least it wasn’t too cold.
Then at about the 7km mark my left knee decided that it wanted a rest. I think I set it up for this by dodging around some people earlier on. I tried to continue for a bit, but I knew where this was heading.
So I stopped for a drink and put my jacket back on. I was happy that I’d covered 7kms before it all fell apart. In truth, it was more than I expected. I’d always struggled to get to 5kms before. I could do it, but my body was never happy about it.
But this time was different. So I took what positives I could from it and started walking. I thought about how I felt, physically at that time. I wasn’t breathing particularly heavily, my heart wasn’t pounding. I actually felt quite good. This is new, I thought.
So I walked for perhaps 1 km, and then started running again. My knee grumbled a bit, but I promised it a good rest when we got home and it shut up for a while.
I ran for another kilometer or so until I got to the hill that separates my suburb from the next suburb. The plan had always been to walk over this hill. No point in completing all the challenges in one day.
So I walked to the top, and then ran the rest of the way home. (apart from a short walk up a really steep hill just before my house)
So I completed my first run for the year and I’m not dead. Bonus!
I’m really happy with how it all went. Aerobically my body performed much better than I thought it would.
The issues with my knees and feet can be solved with some good stretching (I think).
I do feel that if my legs had been up to it, I had at least another 5kms in the tank. That’s not a bad place to start from.
So I’ll focus on some stretches for a bit and then try it again, maybe tomorrow, or maybe the next day. I’ll see how I feel.
But I’m happy with my chosen course, my gear and mostly, my body.
Not a bad second day of 2017.
For those that are interested, here are the stats from Runkeeper:
-Distance: 10.3 kms
-Time: 1:19:29
-Average pace: 7:43 / km
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