During September & October I ran a few Parkruns and that was about it and with lack of regular exercise and enjoying a night out or two I have put on a fair bit of weight. However in the last 3 or 4 weeks, I have started running cross country events with Petts Wood Runners and doing a few more Parkruns and have started to realise why I enjoyed taking up running again a few years back.
In some ways regaining my appetite for running has also been frustrating, because I have realised how out of shape I have become and in a few of the events, people that I would be competing with on time or finishing positions have been leaving me for dead.
However what has also been refreshing is just running naked. Don't worry, I mean in the metaphorical sense. I wouldn't subject people to seeing trundling round some woodlands in my birthday suit. I have just been running without my Garmin (of which I had become a bit of a slave to).
In fact this weekend, I have taken part in 3 events. The first was the Bromley Parkrun on Saturday, which had been nominated as the Movember Parkrun. So I pushed my boy (who recently turned 4 and is now getting a bit big) round in the running buggy, in quite muddy conditions. Everybody got into the spirit wearing stick on moustaches
Today, I had two events. The first was a cross country mob match between Petts Wood Runners, Orpington Runners and New Eltham Joggers. The course was a testing 2 lap-4.2 mile course. I did in fact wear my Garmin for the first time in 3 months. To start it would only show elevation and nothing else, so I had to reset to factory defaults and then when I did finish, I forgot to stop it until 5 minutes or so after finishing. So a bit pointless wearing it really! For the record, the Orpies won the mob match, with PWR taking Silver!
After finishing I had to dash off quickly as I had my 3rd run of the weekend, the Bromley Santa Dash. This was a family affair as you can see
The course was 2k which included a steep uphill bit and a finish in the High Street. My boy ran over three quarters of it. The pre-race warm up was a joy to see with 500+ Santa's performing and aerobic warmup and it was great to be running with my wife and boy along the finish getting cheers and applause from the crowds and witness the atmosphere gee my boy up for a burst of energy sprint finish :-) I am proud to say we finished in 24minutes. Not bad for a 4yo!
So my early Christmas present is the return of my mo-jo. I know I need to take it easy due to my knee condition, but I will be keeping to 5k and 10k events and not have to put in the training miles that I was doing previously. But when you can have fun and get photo's such as the one below, (which I know I am obviously biased, but I love) it certainly makes running, whatever the distance, very worthwhile!
Until the next time (which will not be another 2+ months)
TJH
Great to have you back running and blogging! :-) Keep it going Ray, 5k and 10k are good distances, and they can keep your weight down and keep you fit!
ReplyDeleteWell jogging is the best what can one do these days, it is easy, you can instead of using the car or the train or the bus, you go jogging, it does not cost any thing, no need to park and it is even very healthy, then you stay wealthy and fit. What do you more than that, this hobby is one of the best hobbies in the whole world, you can jog when you are young and even when you become old, you can always jog. Just go on keep on going and do not stop.
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