This year started how the last couple have – with very few winter miles in my legs. Once the excitement of the autumn race season is over, it’s easy to fall out of love with running as the nights draw in and the temperatures drop. Throw in lots of time spent back and forth to hospital with an increasingly poorly Des and a few other obstacles, the result was between November and December my Strava was looking somewhat bare and neglected.
So what better way to get things off to a good start for the year than with a double parkrun on New Year’s Day! This was something I’d really enjoyed last year and, particularly as we had planned a purposely quiet and relaxing New Year’s Eve, I was looking forward to giving it a good go again this year. Once again it didn’t disappoint – the somewhat bleary-eyed crowds gathered, first to tackle the hills of Gedling before dashing over to Colwick, with that ever-friendly and welcoming parkrun atmosphere. Crossing the line and collecting my second token of the day, I was delighted to add up my two times and realise I’d completed the pair around five minutes quicker than last year, great motivation to kick of the year!
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| DOrunning at Colwick parkrun |
With a good base set in January, I was really excited to embark on the DOrunning monthly challenge for February where we’d been tasked with racking up as many points as we could by running a minimum of one mile for as many days as we could. I decided I was going to run every day, come rain, wind or shine. Unfortunately, there was plenty of the first to and hardly any of the latter!
Being a somewhat reluctant runner a lot of the time, I normally find it quite easy to think of excuses that mean I can’t possibly run on any given day. Too busy, too tired, messing up the hair-wash schedule – you name it, I’ve sacked off a run because of it! So in the past, I’ve found running streaks helpful because it strips all that away and reminds me that if I really want to, I can get out every day – even if it’s only for a quick 20 minutes or so.
It was during this month that something quite unexpected and almost seemingly magic happened. For the first time in about two years, my pace started falling consistently and as my pace fell, my motivation grew – I couldn’t wait to get out and see what I could do!
With my new-found enjoyment somewhat tarnished by a race looming at the end of the month, I made the decision to just have the one spin around Benidorm this year and take up the 10km option instead of the half marathon. I wrote a post about that at the time, you can read it here.
So the month reached a crescendo with the Benidorm trip which rounded off 29 days of running in the most fantastic way! The race didn’t disappoint and the whole experience was just as fantastic as last year, even with the addition of the ‘highway to hell’ half way through the route…an awful and unforgiving hill section which the organisers made just about bearable by adding strobe lights and a somewhat camp devil dishing out high-fives to the runners! It was months ago now but I still intend on doing a proper write up of that race.
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| All ready for the Benidorm 10km |
I think the term “what next” can some up the month of March for so many reasons!
Returning from a great weekend in Benidorm a little worse-for-wear to say the least, I knew I needed to think about some new running targets to build on the good foundations from January and February.
It was around this time that things started to all go a little bit funny! I don’t think I need to go in to it, but before I knew it my living room/dining table became my office, our beloved running clubs had to be suspended indefinitely and family and friends became little square pictures who lived in my laptop.
By the end of March, my mileage has dropped to around half of where I had been in January and February – not helped by a week of being “not quite right” so purposely laying off the running in favour of rest. Motivation dwindling, I ended the month with a very tricky 5km where I needed to stop for walking breaks regularly. This was the kick up the arse I needed to get my act together a bit before I completely un-did all the hard work I’d done during the year so far.
April – no fools here!
With races being cancelled left and right and long days at home with nothing much to do, I knew I needed a good target or there would be a danger of very little running happen. I also knew there was a very real chance of being told at any point that running wasn’t going to be allowed for a short while, so I felt like I really should make the most of it.
All things considered, the only sensible thing to do was once again commit to running every day in the month.
There’s not too much to report from this time around really – the climbing temperatures made it a different challenge to February’s endless storms and rain and I was never going to knock about 60-90 secs off my average mile times, but the days ticked by without too much trouble again and I ended the month feeling good.
Most importantly, I was really enjoying my running again in a way that I haven’t done for a very long time.
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| A deserted city centre - one of my favourite runs in April |
With my newly resurfaced love of running, I skipped into May feeling positive. I didn’t have any particular plan for the month, just a loose target of maintaining around 15 miles a week. The month got off to a fabulous start when I did a strong 10km without any walking breaks, something it’s been a very long time since I last managed!
May brought along the first race-like experience since Benidorm – something which seemed and age ago by now! “Running From The Heart” had originally been planned for February, but we had to postpone it due to storm Dennis. At the time, we chose May for the new date because it seemed far enough away that weather wouldn’t be an issue…we’d never have guessed we’d be battling against a global pandemic instead!
Since lockdown came in, Des has been arranging ‘solidarity’ runs for DOrunning, where we all run on our own at the same time, normally on a Tuesday evening when we’d usually be running with the City Slickers group. It’s proved to be a great success and a fantastic morale booster, so we decided to turn Running From The Heart into a similar style. At 3pm on Saturday 16th May, myself and around 50 other people scattered across Nottingham set off our own starting guns and head out for a 10km run.
Des and I decided to run it together and it turned out to be a great motivator to keep me going. At about half a mile in he started getting a little bit ahead, just enough for me to keep chasing him for as long as I could as we dipped and dived between the socially distant walkers along the paths by the river.
I was delighted with my just-about sub 1:05 10km by the time I’d finished, but well aware that I had the all too familiar burning feeling of a blister forming on my foot.
If you’ve read any of my old posts, you’ll know the trials and tribulations I’ve had with blisters – it always seems to be when running’s going well!
So I hobbled home, cleaned it and dressed it and decided that, while we don’t have the commitment of a couple of running clubs a week, I’d let it rest completely until it was better. In the past I’ve tried to keep going using a variety of platers, dressings and other ‘guaranteed to work” remedies that absolutely didn’t work and I think ultimately prolonged the time I had to deal with uncomfortable and painful runs.
Using the last week of May to slowly build up again after a full week off, I ended the month feeling pleased with the consistency I’ve built up, the solid pace that seems to be sticking around and feeling more comfortable with each run.
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| Smiles all around at Running From The Heart |
So today, on Global Running Day, I am one content runner.
As we move towards the half way point of the year, I feel strong and ready to start increasing my mileage and looking towards the autumn half-marathons I’ve got booked in. To be honest, I think there’s a very slim change and mass-events will go ahead this year but I still fully intend on running the 13.1 distance at least once this year. I’m excited to see what I can do if I keep going full steam ahead in the way that I have done so far.
I’ll be keeping up the good habits I’ve formed with getting the monthly miles to a good level and I really hope my motivation sticks around. I know that summer can be difficult for fitting the long runs in with lots of social plans to normally work around – but I’m sure that by keeping my long term goals in mind and remembering how great it feels to finally see some progress, I’ll be able to keep working at it.
I feel better about running than I have done in years, and I’m running better than I have done in years… I’m really not sure which came first but I’m going to enjoy it and make the most of it!
