Lockdown and Re-thinking Running
It's been a strange time, whether you're a runner or not. For those of us who are runners, the cancellation of all parkruns and organised running events and races has brought a massive change to our routines. We are fortunate in the UK because at the time of writing, we can still go out to exercise once a day, but many of us are missing our running buddies and our favourite running venues.
I suppose I'm lucky in that I'm quite a solitary runner anyway. I don't belong to a club and I either run alone or with my husband. During isolation we have managed to have a short, local run every day. What we really miss is not being able to go to a cafe for a post-run coffee or snack afterwards, especially on Saturdays when the parkrun breakfast was always as much an event as the run.
Running in isolation has required a few changes in attitude and expectation. In some ways, that's a good thing. It can be too easy to fall into the trap of thinking running is all about races and getting a new personal best. Lockdown has taught me that getting out in the fresh air and being able to exercise, to clear your head and stretch out your legs, is the most important thing now. To begin with I was extremely nervous about going out and would panic whenever I saw another person who I would have to pass. A few weeks down the line, I am much more relaxed and keeping a safe distance has become instinctive.
I've been grateful for the online support provided by certain groups, particularly a lovely bunch of people from It's Grim Up North Running. Their cheery banter and their virtual challenges have made a huge difference, giving me the spur to keep going and stay positive. Last week's Rainbow Running challenge was a perfect example. We wore a different coloured running shirt each day, first and foremost to show our respect and support for all the key workers, but a welcome side effect of this was to give us all a lovely, uplifting dose of colour therapy! We shared photographs and put them together to make collages and it was encouraging to see so many people continuing to run despite all the bleakness in the world right now. We followed this up with a 3-day event in red, white and blue to honour the heroes of World War 2.
Lockdown is helping bring creativity into our lives in many ways. We're all having to improvise and concoct meals out of whatever foods we have available and we're having to find new ways to stay connected with our friends and families through online activities. Runners are showing creativity too. Many of us have run around our back gardens and kitchens. I have done a hat trick of Garden 5Ks and a Kitchen 5K (whilst cooking tarka dahl - beat that for multi-tasking) and can confirm that the sense of achievement on completing these crazy runs was probably as great as for any run I'd done previously. It felt like a triumph. No matter how silly you feel when you're shuttling along your garden path, dodging rakes and plant pots and even a dead mouse, no matter how long it takes compared to a normal 5K you feel like a warrior when you're done! You may not feel like a speedy runner but you feel like an inventive one. (And as for those who are running whole marathons around their gardens, I am in awe of you. You are brilliant and bonkers in equal measure,as all the best people are.)
I did my first Garden Run at a time when we were all worried that complete lockdown was only a matter of time and we therefore had to prepare ourselves for not being able to run in public places at all. Knowing we could run our regular distances at home, even if it was a bit of a palaver, was a great relief. With contingency plans firmly in place, the weeks and months ahead didn't seem quite so daunting. It gave us a bit of control back.
Right now, I can't imagine what it will be like to be able to enter a race or go to parkrun again, to stand in a big crowd on the startline, soaking up the atmosphere. It all seems a long way away. But I know that one day it will happen and it's going to feel amazing. I'm sure I won't forget these strange weeks of running in social isolation though, and I wouldn't want to. I hope I will always remember that the medals, the distances, the pace and the PBs are really not the be all and end all of running. The most important thing is - well, just running. It doesn't matter whether you do it on a treadmill, a balcony, round your kitchen, up and down your hallway, on the spot, just as long as you're doing it. Because that's what makes you a runner. Pretty simple, when you think about it, but I'm reminded of all the online posts I have seen over the years, people beating themselves up because they don't feel like a 'proper runner.' because they are too slow, or because they had to walk a bit in their last race. (Yes, I've been guilty of this kind of thinking too.) It sometimes takes a massive crisis to make you see something that really should have been obvious and to learn something useful.
My first Garden 5K completed
I suppose I'm lucky in that I'm quite a solitary runner anyway. I don't belong to a club and I either run alone or with my husband. During isolation we have managed to have a short, local run every day. What we really miss is not being able to go to a cafe for a post-run coffee or snack afterwards, especially on Saturdays when the parkrun breakfast was always as much an event as the run.
Running in isolation has required a few changes in attitude and expectation. In some ways, that's a good thing. It can be too easy to fall into the trap of thinking running is all about races and getting a new personal best. Lockdown has taught me that getting out in the fresh air and being able to exercise, to clear your head and stretch out your legs, is the most important thing now. To begin with I was extremely nervous about going out and would panic whenever I saw another person who I would have to pass. A few weeks down the line, I am much more relaxed and keeping a safe distance has become instinctive.
I've been grateful for the online support provided by certain groups, particularly a lovely bunch of people from It's Grim Up North Running. Their cheery banter and their virtual challenges have made a huge difference, giving me the spur to keep going and stay positive. Last week's Rainbow Running challenge was a perfect example. We wore a different coloured running shirt each day, first and foremost to show our respect and support for all the key workers, but a welcome side effect of this was to give us all a lovely, uplifting dose of colour therapy! We shared photographs and put them together to make collages and it was encouraging to see so many people continuing to run despite all the bleakness in the world right now. We followed this up with a 3-day event in red, white and blue to honour the heroes of World War 2.
Lockdown is helping bring creativity into our lives in many ways. We're all having to improvise and concoct meals out of whatever foods we have available and we're having to find new ways to stay connected with our friends and families through online activities. Runners are showing creativity too. Many of us have run around our back gardens and kitchens. I have done a hat trick of Garden 5Ks and a Kitchen 5K (whilst cooking tarka dahl - beat that for multi-tasking) and can confirm that the sense of achievement on completing these crazy runs was probably as great as for any run I'd done previously. It felt like a triumph. No matter how silly you feel when you're shuttling along your garden path, dodging rakes and plant pots and even a dead mouse, no matter how long it takes compared to a normal 5K you feel like a warrior when you're done! You may not feel like a speedy runner but you feel like an inventive one. (And as for those who are running whole marathons around their gardens, I am in awe of you. You are brilliant and bonkers in equal measure,as all the best people are.)
I did my first Garden Run at a time when we were all worried that complete lockdown was only a matter of time and we therefore had to prepare ourselves for not being able to run in public places at all. Knowing we could run our regular distances at home, even if it was a bit of a palaver, was a great relief. With contingency plans firmly in place, the weeks and months ahead didn't seem quite so daunting. It gave us a bit of control back.
Right now, I can't imagine what it will be like to be able to enter a race or go to parkrun again, to stand in a big crowd on the startline, soaking up the atmosphere. It all seems a long way away. But I know that one day it will happen and it's going to feel amazing. I'm sure I won't forget these strange weeks of running in social isolation though, and I wouldn't want to. I hope I will always remember that the medals, the distances, the pace and the PBs are really not the be all and end all of running. The most important thing is - well, just running. It doesn't matter whether you do it on a treadmill, a balcony, round your kitchen, up and down your hallway, on the spot, just as long as you're doing it. Because that's what makes you a runner. Pretty simple, when you think about it, but I'm reminded of all the online posts I have seen over the years, people beating themselves up because they don't feel like a 'proper runner.' because they are too slow, or because they had to walk a bit in their last race. (Yes, I've been guilty of this kind of thinking too.) It sometimes takes a massive crisis to make you see something that really should have been obvious and to learn something useful.
My first Garden 5K completed
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