Wednesday 8 July 2015

Off for a run.



(Hi there! I’m about to head off for a run, but thought I’d jot down a few words before I do…)

When I complete my first mile today, I’ll have done so for the thousandth day… er, running. It’ll be around the point where Springfield Road confluxes into West Hill, as over the rooftops the Severn confluxes into the muddy Bristol Channel. A view I know only too well.

I’ll treat myself to a little fist-pump, and potentially a twirl, traffic, uneven surface and construction vehicles allowing. I’ll then head down for the Lake Grounds, where Jason will be waiting for me to run a few miles together along the Marina and into the Nature Reserve before heading back up Nore Road. It’s a route I’ve run many a time, one that is a convenient 10 miles long. Hopefully I’ll nail the Garmin at 10.00, for geekness sake..!

I know many of you will be disappointed that I’m not running an Ultra, the way, for example, Mike and John did when reaching the same landmark. If I were to run more than thirty miles today, I’d be doing so for the tenth time this year. But, quite frankly – I can’t be bothered. And besides…

…I chose this route a while back. It’s a very familiar one, both on the whole and in terms of its component parts, which are also component parts of 10k and 15mi routes I’ve run countless times.

See, I’m not fussed about today being ‘epic’, ‘amazeballs’ or whatever other term a longer run may have prompted on Twitter or Strava. I just want to nip out for an hour and a half or so and take it all in. I won’t discover any new sights, but I’ll be able to take in the good fortune that’s allowed me to see them time and again. And again. And again.

. . .

Yes, I’ve put in the miles. 8,703 (14,006 km) since I began running in April 2012, 1,951 (3,141) of which in 2015. But dedication requires good luck: and staying injury-free for a thousand days takes a lot of good luck. I can honestly say I’ve never run when injured: I ran on a stomach bug early doors (gotta love having young kids bringing back all sorts of bugs from school!), but never on an injury. Have I stayed injury-free because I run – or do I run because I’m injury-free? Probably a bit of both: regardless, there’s some good luck there somewhere.

I’m also grateful for the fitness I now enjoy. I was aware of this at the weekend, during parkrun and on a run with a friend. On Saturday, I was able to pace fellow runners to sub-21 5ks. Not that long ago, I would never have dreamt of a sub-21 5k: my most elating run to date is not the West Highland Way Race nor my 5k PB run, but that first 5k on May 6, 2012, which took me 34’. I stood by the Milngavie underpass expecting to finish, just like I’d awaited the countdown in Little Stoke expecting a sub-20 (although not quite by 56”): but when I first ran 5k without stopping or even walking… wow, that exceeded expectations.
So, when 1,155 days later I was running within myself to get as close to 21’ when I would otherwise have expected to run a sub-20, I was well aware of the strides I’d made. And the same was true twenty-four hours later, when I set out for a run with Tim without having to ask how long we’d be running. I thought it’d be a tenner, but didn’t feel the need to ask. What I did feel was that I’d got to a stage where I can step out and run any distance without any specific tapering or carbloading – least up to 26.2… and that’s summat else I’m reyt chuffed abaat.

Oh, and don’t worry: I’ve got two more official ultras coming up this year, Devil O’Highlands and HP40. Hopefully I’ll join some other local nutters for some Sheepbagging, and maybe I’ll have the chance to run the Green Man route on New Year’s Eve as I did last year. Even if I don’t, and even if I don’t secure permission to go sheepbagging, just by running a 50k-er ahead of both ultras I’ll have run that distance (my personal definition of an ultra) thirteen times this year. So let’s not fuss too much about today just being a ten miler, eh? Besides…
…outside of training or racing, I’d really need company for a long’un. Tim’s knackered ankle means he’s not coming out to play, so it’ll ‘just’ be Jason for around five miles. For a couple of years we’ve been saying we should run together, and the nearest we came was last Saturday, when he initially joined my sub-21 at Little Stoke before doing the right thing and pushing on. Twice in five days – good going!
And news just in is that Karley, his wife, will be joining us for a couple of miles through the Nature Reserve. When I first met Karley at the end of last year’s Portishead Multi Terrain 10k, where I was marshalling, she commented on having heard a lot about me. A nutter’s reputation can precede him, you know… We’ve bumped into each other since, in civvies, as we’ve kids of similar ages and sometimes end up in the same places. I’m really touched that she’s coming out to run a couple of miles with me today.
If I ever get my backside in gear, that is – and on that note…

. . .

Time to get changed for runch. Thanks for the company along the journey, Friends. Thanks for the digital runspiration and for the miles shared side by side. And remember: the road goes on forever, and the party never ends. Just one last thing, should you be one of the non-runners who stumble on my blog…

…tell me you don’t want to run, that you can’t stand it (as I used to say)… but don’t tell me you don’t have time to run. Because there’s always time. Trust me on that one.

Oh – and I’ll be getting a pair of Brooks Green Silence over the thousand mile mark for the fifth time today, too! I’ll check back in on that note when I get a thousand miles out a pair of GS for the tenth time. Because it should happen. One day.

What else will happen in the future?

Not a clue. Hopefully I’ll keep on running. Hopefully I’ll be running marathons at 70. Hopefully I’ll keep up this streak for some time yet. But, truth is, none of us know. We make plans, but then can but hope. One bad fall, one bad ankle landing, one stupid driver and the streak, or more, could be over. So I’ll keep taking it one day, one run, one mile, one step at a time. But if I don’t reach Springfield Road today…
…hmmm – let’s not contemplate that. Because it’s not usually just about the running – but, you know what… today, it pretty much is.

Laters!

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