Given the recent inclement weather conditions this was my first run in eight days. It has simply been too treacherous to get out, the freezing snow, slush and ice meant it would have been foolhardy to even attempt it.
Even walking was difficult. If you’re on Facebook you might have stumbled across a video (10m+ views and counting) on the UniLad page of a girl struggling to walk up a path to her house and failing miserably to much hilarity … this video was filmed across the road from me which will give you some idea of just how slippery it has been lately.
Much to my growing frustration I couldn’t get out. The last few days have brought a little hope only for overnight conditions to worsen again until, thankfully, today when some warm rain and increased temperatures finally washed away the not insignificant amounts of black ice scattered around the place.
Of course, this inactivity also led to the same old thoughts entering my head – could I do this again, will I be rubbish, will I give up after a mile or so etc. etc.
I did have a motivating factor in two virtual runs to keep me going. One, the Run Up To Christmas, has been causing quite a stir on Twitter. The minimum qualifying distance to attain by December 25th is 50k but, due to the weather, I was only on 15.9k before today’s run.
The other, via the Virtual Runner UK website, finished today and whilst there was no distance requirements for this one I did want to do one final run for it. Plus the medal was a penguin and anyone who knows me know I love penguins. I wanted this bling!!!
So this double dose of motivation meant I decided to do 10k, a little more than I’ve run lately, but a decent distance in order to get back into it. I wanted to be careful not to injure myself by doing too much too soon so elected to adopt the run/walk/run method as pioneered by Jeff Galloway.
Route wise I improvised … a polite way of saying I had absolutely no idea where I was going. To amuse myself a little I decided to run along roads and paths I haven’t been to before, partly to scout out potential new routes and also because I’m bored of the same old same old.
The run itself was ok. Because I was Jeffing it I knew I wasn’t going to go fast but that was fine, this was just all about getting back out there again. My running portions were faster than normal according to my watch and I felt good during them … so, in that light, I have to report a successful run.
Today’s 10k brings me up to just over halfway in the Run Up To Christmas challenge, I’ve got another week to make up the difference but a couple of 10ks followed by a Christmas Day parkrun will see me over the line.
Run Up To Christmas progress (25.9k)
2nd December – 5k
4th December – 8k
9th December – 2.9k
17th December – 10k
HUFF, PUFF AND SHUFFLE 