After my injury strewn run last Monday night I was struck down by a particularly nasty strain of manflu. In fact, this baby surpassed mere manflu. This was a full blown zombie apocalypse-type virus!
As a result I hadn’t run since last Monday night … a week long break. I don’t do well after such a long gap between runs. I debated with myself about even attending tonight’s club session. I’d worried about it all day – I’ll be useless if I go. What if I’m sick? What if my leg plays up again? – the usual insecurities. Maybe I’d be better just going out by myself, so if it was a disaster then no-one would see.
But I dragged myself out. I knew as easy as it felt not to go I would have felt a lot worse if I didn’t. I could just write last week off and start afresh, whether I went with the 30s or 45s.
I decided, in the end, to go with the 45s mostly because everyone else in my group was, not because I wanted to push myself.
Remember how I said I don’t do well after a long break between runs? Not so tonight. I smashed it! Well, smashing it might be a bit strong … but I felt really strong and comfortable throughout.
We followed the same route as last week so it gave me a good chance to make a direct comparison, and the sections I struggled with last Monday presented little or no challenge tonight.
I held a bit back throughout, really fighting the temptation to open up because I wasn’t sure about how capable I’d be and didn’t want to exhaust myself before the end of the run.
Tonight was a real confidence booster. I’ve exorcised my demons and it went far better than I thought and, once again, I proved to myself I’m better at this than I thought I was. Someday I’ll actually remember that!
HUFF, PUFF AND SHUFFLE 