M - 2: Back to basics
I hear you all asking, haven't you left yet? This last week seems to be going on forever. I am leaving for Germany in the morning, although as I'll have the computer with me that's no guarantee that I'll shut up.
There were two things I've been paranoid about for ages. The first was getting a cold this week. The second was getting my period. Today, a fantastically timed double whammy. The cold I've been trying to stave off has finally broken, as has TOM. Brilliant. I'm currently working on the hope that they'll both be relatively short lived, and on their last legs by Sunday. If not, well I'll take it a bit easier than I hoped, but I'll get round.
So with both of those making their presence felt, I really didn't fancy doing my last easy 2 mile loosening up run today. I didn't do it before work, and on the way home it was pouring with rain and I almost skipped it then too.
But then sanity hit, and the rain started easing off, and I decided to go out. I'm so glad that I did.
The thing about 2 mile runs is that I rarely do anything that short. And because it's not far there's only a limited choice of routes. So my 2 mile route took me back right to where it all started. Summer 2004, before I joined the gym, when I was "training" for the 1 mile Sport Relief run. I wanted to start running, but I had no idea where to start.
Sometimes after work I'd go for a "run" down to the park and back. A mile there, a mile back. I'd start off with good intentions, run for 30 seconds (on a good day) and then slip into a run/walk pattern on the trip down to the park. Then, absolutely worn out, I'd walk back (except, I have to say, the spell which involved me passing a work colleague's house. I made sure I ran that bit, just in case he spotted me). There was absolutely no way I'd have thought of running it all.
Since that early, abortive, attempt to start running I've rarely done that course. When I was building up my running I mainly ran on the treadmill at the gym so I could measure time and distance more accurately, and once I started running outside I had no need of 2 mile routes.
So today was probably the first time I've run the route since those days back in 2004. It really hit home how hard I used to find that route and how much I used to struggle with it. Running it today it was easy and short. I didn't need to stop or walk, and I barely broke into a sweat.
That tells me how far I've come. No matter how I run on Sunday there's no way I'd have ever dreamed back then that I'd be standing on that start line a little over 2 years later, and that I'd be standing there a size 10. It isn't about how I run on one day, even if it is the biggest race I've ever done. It isn't about one day to make or break my running story. It's about the journey, and improvements over time.
So I'll sign off for now with a bit more perspective on things, and a bit less fear.
See you in Germany!
There were two things I've been paranoid about for ages. The first was getting a cold this week. The second was getting my period. Today, a fantastically timed double whammy. The cold I've been trying to stave off has finally broken, as has TOM. Brilliant. I'm currently working on the hope that they'll both be relatively short lived, and on their last legs by Sunday. If not, well I'll take it a bit easier than I hoped, but I'll get round.
So with both of those making their presence felt, I really didn't fancy doing my last easy 2 mile loosening up run today. I didn't do it before work, and on the way home it was pouring with rain and I almost skipped it then too.
But then sanity hit, and the rain started easing off, and I decided to go out. I'm so glad that I did.
The thing about 2 mile runs is that I rarely do anything that short. And because it's not far there's only a limited choice of routes. So my 2 mile route took me back right to where it all started. Summer 2004, before I joined the gym, when I was "training" for the 1 mile Sport Relief run. I wanted to start running, but I had no idea where to start.
Sometimes after work I'd go for a "run" down to the park and back. A mile there, a mile back. I'd start off with good intentions, run for 30 seconds (on a good day) and then slip into a run/walk pattern on the trip down to the park. Then, absolutely worn out, I'd walk back (except, I have to say, the spell which involved me passing a work colleague's house. I made sure I ran that bit, just in case he spotted me). There was absolutely no way I'd have thought of running it all.
Since that early, abortive, attempt to start running I've rarely done that course. When I was building up my running I mainly ran on the treadmill at the gym so I could measure time and distance more accurately, and once I started running outside I had no need of 2 mile routes.
So today was probably the first time I've run the route since those days back in 2004. It really hit home how hard I used to find that route and how much I used to struggle with it. Running it today it was easy and short. I didn't need to stop or walk, and I barely broke into a sweat.
That tells me how far I've come. No matter how I run on Sunday there's no way I'd have ever dreamed back then that I'd be standing on that start line a little over 2 years later, and that I'd be standing there a size 10. It isn't about how I run on one day, even if it is the biggest race I've ever done. It isn't about one day to make or break my running story. It's about the journey, and improvements over time.
So I'll sign off for now with a bit more perspective on things, and a bit less fear.
See you in Germany!
posted by YP at 8:20 PM
3 Comments:
GOOD LUCK!! Have a great run
i think THATS exactly what you needed.
that 2 miler to put everything in perspective!!
Sounds like a great confidence booster before Berlin. :)
Good luck, I'll be cheering you on!
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