Or something like that.
I couldn’t sleep, 2-3 hours max., blood sugar levels too high as they have been for the last couple of days – consistently 8.5 or thereabouts – so I’d done no running since Thursday, it had me feeling somewhat on edge and irritable.
I’d also been seriously doubting myself. Could I reach the heights of late last year? Did I have another marathon in me? I should be getting faster by now but I’m lacking enthusiasm.Was there any point keeping on?
But I didn’t give up before when I was injured. Most sane people would have deferred for a year and most people (but not all) probably had written me off so I’m damned if I’m going to give up this time.
So out I went at 7am, a lovely crisp Sunday morning. I decided to mix the route up a bit, trying to incorporate hills and descents into my run and, guess what, I set a new 5km record for my watch ….. in fact, I recorded my best 5k time this year.
Slightly gutted I didn’t manage to do it under 40 minutes but I did manage to get the average mph speed under 13 minutes so that’s progress. I’ll work on those pesky 13 seconds next time!
I knew I was onto a good thing when the first 2km were under 8 minutes each, the other three weren’t too bad either. It’s very reassuring to know I have it in me after all – and I know if that had been a race situation or had someone running with me I would have gone faster.
To treat myself, when I came home I entered a virtual run so I’ve got myself a medal and t-shirt arriving in the post in the next couple of days. I didn’t want to do it until I’d logged a run I was happy with, and I’m happy with today, so why not?
In other news, Ballymena Runners are starting a Couch to 5k programme for Ballee on September 13th …. it sets off from the car park literally across the road from my house, running for nine weeks and culminating with membership in the club, so no taxis or 45-minute walks just to get there.
I spoke to the organisers to see if I’d be suitable for it and whilst they reckoned at my level I could join the club already they’re happy enough for me to go through the programme.
To be honest, I’m quite apprehensive about it, simply because a marathon ‘runner’ shouldn’t need to do something like this and I’m a bit worried about the expectations they might have of me – but, looking at the schedule, I think I could learn quite a bit from it.
Also, I think they encourage the group to do parkrun each Saturday morning as part of the training so it’d be good for me to run it with others in a bunch rather than on my own.
HUFF, PUFF AND SHUFFLE 