Back in my Stride
Early this year, my physio gave me the go ahead to start building my running up again after a particularly nasty thigh strain, so that's what I've been doing. I'm doing the RED 'Run Every Day' January challenge for Mind, so it's a case of little and often. I'm not usually a huge fan of 'running streaks', because I value my rest days, but RED is certainly helping to keep me motivated, even though sometimes it just involves a 'daily mile' on the treadmill.
As I was doing my very rainy 5K today, I found myself pondering the fact that I've been running nearly 18 months now. In some respects, I think it's fair to say that the honeymoon period is over. When I first started to run, I really did feel almost like I was at the start of a new love affair. I woke up excited whenever I was going for a run. These days it feels more like a marriage. Don't get me wrong, an enjoyable marriage, but with a few ups and downs, a few mundane moments. It's become more about being steady, consistent, keeping things ticking along. That's not to say I don't look forward to my runs. Mainly, I do. I just don't get the Christmas Eve-type, inability to sleep before park run that I had in the early days.
I guess, as with many things, the challenge is to keep this up even though the honeymoon period is over. Being injured definitely knocks your confidence somewhat. I think you can feel invincible when you go for a generous amount of time without any problems. It can be very humbling to suddenly find that your body let you down, even though you know it happens to just about everyone at some stage. As it's in my nature to always think that everything is my fault, I felt a bit foolish to have an injury. I felt it meant I had failed to warm up properly, hadn't stretched enough afterwards, or tried to do more than was sensible at my age.
I completed my 50th park run on Saturday and although I'm still nowhere near the times I achieved over the summer, it was a great feeling to just be out there, running without pain. Perhaps injuries are the wake up calls runners need, so that they don't get too stuck in a rut when the honeymoon evolves into a marriage. As with a real marriage, it's so easy to take things for granted. There's nothing like a bit of time out to make you realise how important something is to you, way more important than just personal bests and race results.
I'm sure that a few months down the line those personal bests will start to matter to me again, once the injury becomes (hopefully) a distant memory, but for now it's enough to know that I can complete a run without having to struggle with stairs for the rest of the week, or cry out in agony when I trip over the cat and land on the bad leg. I am getting back into it and I know I'll find the magic again before too long.
As I was doing my very rainy 5K today, I found myself pondering the fact that I've been running nearly 18 months now. In some respects, I think it's fair to say that the honeymoon period is over. When I first started to run, I really did feel almost like I was at the start of a new love affair. I woke up excited whenever I was going for a run. These days it feels more like a marriage. Don't get me wrong, an enjoyable marriage, but with a few ups and downs, a few mundane moments. It's become more about being steady, consistent, keeping things ticking along. That's not to say I don't look forward to my runs. Mainly, I do. I just don't get the Christmas Eve-type, inability to sleep before park run that I had in the early days.
I guess, as with many things, the challenge is to keep this up even though the honeymoon period is over. Being injured definitely knocks your confidence somewhat. I think you can feel invincible when you go for a generous amount of time without any problems. It can be very humbling to suddenly find that your body let you down, even though you know it happens to just about everyone at some stage. As it's in my nature to always think that everything is my fault, I felt a bit foolish to have an injury. I felt it meant I had failed to warm up properly, hadn't stretched enough afterwards, or tried to do more than was sensible at my age.
I completed my 50th park run on Saturday and although I'm still nowhere near the times I achieved over the summer, it was a great feeling to just be out there, running without pain. Perhaps injuries are the wake up calls runners need, so that they don't get too stuck in a rut when the honeymoon evolves into a marriage. As with a real marriage, it's so easy to take things for granted. There's nothing like a bit of time out to make you realise how important something is to you, way more important than just personal bests and race results.
I'm sure that a few months down the line those personal bests will start to matter to me again, once the injury becomes (hopefully) a distant memory, but for now it's enough to know that I can complete a run without having to struggle with stairs for the rest of the week, or cry out in agony when I trip over the cat and land on the bad leg. I am getting back into it and I know I'll find the magic again before too long.
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