Finding My Inner Runner

As I ran yesterday , 10k in fact, today should have been a rest day. Having gone for a walk around one of the nearby country estates at Gosford House , the weather was still lovely when I got home, so decided a short run wouldn't hurt. Not quite sure when 8k became a "short" run, bit there you go; my legs just decided they were happy to keep going. The bizarre thing I find is that despite trying to run slowly, I averaged 6;27/km; with my fastest kilometre being 5:45/km. Last year, anything quicker than around 7:30/km would have been me flat out, downhill with a strong following wind; today, even when I'm consciously trying, I find it almost impossible to consistently run slower than 7:00/km. I am still constantly amazed by the fact that not only can I run so much further than I could a year ago, but also the fact that I can run faster with much more ease for longer than I could possibly have imagined.

One of the things I like about Strava is that I get to see routes that other runners have taken, and so I get to discover new paths and trails in and around the vicinity of the village where I live. Given the current restrictions on organised running events, it does seem that the ability to finding new courses to run and enjoy is now even more important than ever. If we can't have the social side of running (even for those of us who are mostly solo runners), then we need some changes of scenery to help keep our spirits up. Today, I followed a new route that was, to all intents and purposes, a 2km extension to a route that I already take, but that I hadn't run before as I only discovered that the path that joins it to the route I knew existed on Wednesday evening when I was comparing my time on a particular segment with someone else who had run it a couple of hours earlier, and noticed that at the end of the segment, they's taken a slightly different route back into th...

So, it would seem that the best way to shake off the gloom and despondency of having not managed to get out and run for a couple of days is, quite simply, to get out and run... Wasn't really sure how far I'd manage when I set out after work, but it seemed that my legs were keen to make up for having had a couple of days off (from running at least, they'd walked more than 20km over the weekend) and I quickly just fell into a rhythm and off I went. 5k came and went easily enough; 10k wasn't especially tough, so I just kept going. It had been threatening to start raining pretty much from the beginning and as I hit the 14k, it became less of a threat and more of a promise, but despite the fact I was more or less passing my front door at that point, my legs were not for giving up and I carried on through to the 10 mile mark in my second best time of 1:52:44. So, on the whole, I good run to get back out there with.

I wasn't meant to run tonight on the grounds that I was supposed to be refereeing a 7s tournament  tomorrow. Unfortunately, due to the deepening Covid-19 crisis, the SRU have taken the step of cancelling all domestic rugby in Scotland until further notice. While this is no doubt disappointing to many, it is an entirely sensible and understandable step to take in the circumstances. Combine this with the fact that no one knows for sure if parkruns will be held tomorrow (and no one could blame anyone if they were cancelled), it meant I suddenly found myself at something of a loose end. Fortunately, there is a virtual 5k challenge (courtesy of  New York Road Runners ) happening this weekend (there's also a half marathon challenge, but there was no way I was doing that tonight); so I laced up my trail shoes and went for a leisurely lollop along the old railway path and through the woods, and added another 5.15km to  Team HU 's total for the  Vitality Running World C...

The Vitality Running World Cup 2020 is now upon us. It actually started yesterday, but as that was a rest day, I had to wait until today to start my contribution to the Healthunlocked Team tally. It was one of those runs that almost didn't happen. The event may be sponsored by Vitality, but I certainly wasn't feeling any initially. First it was a case of, I'll head out mid-morning, then it was before lunch, then it was after lunch and before I knew it, it was 2pm and I still hadn't got anywhere and was in danger of putting it off until tomorrow, so I decided to bite the bullet and get on with it. I figured that all I really needed to do was complete the qualifying 3k in 30 minutes and if I still wasn't feeling it, I could essentially call it "job done" for the day; there would always be other runs. As is often the case, once I'm actually out and my legs have found their rhythm, things just click into place and by the time I'd passed the 3...