Sadly, this is not a literal post. I am not on a beach
somewhere wildly exotic, a local lethal cocktail next to me and a punkawhallah
with palm leaves in hand, cooling me down. I’m in good ol’ Blighty in my little
home writing this but don’t let that detract from the topic!
My first post of 2015 had a lovely response. On publishing
it, I was slightly concerned that it had unintentionally come across as a bit
‘woe is me’ but thankfully it was not read that way and the comments on the
blog, via FB, text and email were nothing but supportive and encouraging. This
is one of the reasons I love blogging and social media in general – like minded
people, supporting and encouraging like minded people! Keep that shit up likeminded
people, its ace – and so are you!!
The week after ‘the blog post’ I ran my first no-pressured
run of the year and I had promised myself that I would run with my heart and
not my head. No time pressures, try not to look at my damn Garmin every 5 mins,
don’t try and keep up with others as they are all running their own race/event,
and last but most importantly, ENJOY it! The event was the Chilly 10k, a
multi-lap run at Castle Combe race circuit. Urgh. I am not a fan of multi-laps
as it psychologically messes with my tiny brain but I was trying to adopt,
embrace, and put to the test, this new mindset. I met up with my running buddy
Lorain and her sister Ragin who were also running and we met just as the race
briefing was hollered at us through the loudspeaker. Then it was a short walk
from the paddock onto the race track and we were soon lined up and ready for
the off. Repeating calm, soothing thoughts to myself and trying to listen to my
music more than my laboured breathing was a real challenge. It’s a race, people
compete. It’s what we hooomins do. There are people there to prove many
different things to themselves or others, on their own journey, completing their
own challenges and doing their own thing. And this was what I had to remind
myself as I plodded around. Everyone is doing their own thing. And I should
only concentrate on my own
thing.....so I tried to keep myself in check and just run. The results were
interesting. My splits were erratic, as the nature of me is to try and pick people
off as the miles tick by and I started to do just this, and then checked myself
to just run it, hence a wibbly-wobbly pace. That said, I did have my eyes set
on a chap a few hundred metres in front of me who I used as a pacemaker; if I
kept him in my sights, I would be happy. My mind was a tad numb from the lack
of inspirational or stimulating scenery and it wandered, contributing to the
erratic splits. I think there was even a jazz-hands-sing-out-loud moment to try
and break the monotony (I’m painting a bit of a bleak picture, it wasn’t that
bad, as race tracks go; not sure I’ve mentioned it but multi-lap races are just
not my thing!) Back to the chap running a bit in front of me. I caught him up
with about ¼ mile to go. And I was hot on his heels as we entered the slightly
winding, funnelled finishing bit. I managed to tell him, in a slightly
breathy-gasping manner that he was my pacemaker and he had to get me to finish.
The race was on and he challenged me hard to the finish line, the bugger!
Garmin stopped, high five to my unofficial pacemaker (there’s a bit of footage
of this and it makes me smile when I watch it!) and a time check. Only 14
seconds slower than my 10k PB. I officially ran happy!
And since then, I’ve made a concerted effort to ‘switch off’
from pacing my runs. Work has been manic and it’s hard to fit in structured
training at times. It’s therefore been pleasantly surprising to find that
taking the pressures off of myself has resulted in some really enjoyable runs
and most surprisingly, some pretty speedy times too. Just last week, I knocked
out a 3 mile run with splits of 09:26, 08:17 and 07:03. An almost 7 minute
mile!! HELL YEEEAAAH!! And this I love. I don’t care if I don’t ever repeat
that time as I know I did it and can do it – even if my legs felt like they
didn’t actually belong to me. (Doing it for more than one mile may be a
challenge but hey ho, I’ve done it!) Yes, I have a few running events to train
for in the coming weeks and months but I aim to enjoy them rather than ‘smash’
them and I’m looking forward it. No pressure other than to finish.
It is early days but I definitely feel that I am getting
back to rediscovering my love of running and once again enjoying the benefits
of running for me. So, I may not be sat on a beach with a spade in hand physically
drawing my line in the sand, but believe me, the line is drawn!
