Parkrun with Rosie and Dave

Spurred on by a really encouraging hospital appointment in the week (see below), I had clocked my friend Dave was gearing up for a Saturday Parkrun.  I invited myself along and so the Parkrun with Rosie and Dave was brilliant to do.

Rightnow we have storm Hannah making her presence felt across the UK.  With this in mind, Dave had been thinking the Dunstable Downs Parkrun might be a bit of a wild affair and suggested Rushmere might be better.  So it was set for Dave to collect me and then to call for Rosie on our way.  I’m thinking Rosie has a role of nudging Dave on in the runs.

So we arrived at Rushmere, near the Heave and Wretch village, just in time to stand and watch the briefing being mimed to us.  It was so windy, we couldn’t really hear what was being said.  I politely pushed myself to the front enough to hear “…..two laps….watch out for the…..and good luck everybody”.

We strolled over to the start in a woodland area.  It was quite a wide path, probably wide enough for 4 or 5 people side by side.  Lots of Lycra.  I think there were some very capable runners there but most were those simply out for a bit of fun and fitness – Parkrun are certainly a very sociable and not-too-serious group runs.  Age wise, it ranged from some youngsters (perhaps 8-10 year olds) right through to their grey haired grandparents. All good stuff.

I was so pleased when we eventually started; starting to feel increasingly cold and starting to shiver a little.  I knew I’d be okay once we had started but standing there in shorts, it was so cold!

I was determined to settle into a nice gentle pace.  None of this latching on to a fast pace setter business.  Before long I was surrounded by heavy breathers and runners who were having difficulty in talking much to each other.  A little further on we were starting to thin out a bit and this made it easier to inch ahead of them and keep up a fairly constant pace.

Hi-viz marshalls were by each corner and clapped and cheered everyone on their way.  This was nice but you couldn’t afford to take your eyes off the trail as there were plenty of tree roots to trip over.  Perhaps this is what the briefing warned us about or perhaps the horse poo in a downhill stretch?  Oh too late, yes, I did my bit in sharing it around.

On lap two I saw my friend Andrew from the kayaking club.  We ran alongside each other, right to the end of the run and this was so nice.  Not only did chatting make me forget any discomfort but it was lovely being able to see him and have a natter.

As soon as I went through the finishing funnel, I got handed a little barcode and then someone else was wanting to zap this, together with my Parkrun card.  To be honest, I must have been on autopilot as I didn’t have a clue what was happening!

Shortly afterwards Rosie and then Dave came in, both smiling and looking really pleased.  We were all pleased with ourselves, perhaps all for slightly different reasons.  Dave suggested we go for coffee; this sounded such an excellent idea and so we did.  It was lovely being able to debrief ourselves and, for me, to warm up a little in the cafe.  This is time for mutual encouragement and camaraderie while the hot coffee soothed us and was exactly spot-on (thanks Dave!).  So all in all, a brilliant start to the weekend!

I mentioned a hospital visit.  This was a couple of days ago and where I again saw a kidney consultant. This particular consultant, nowadays known as Dr Andy, is so nice and I’ve seen him before.  He explains things so clearly and helpfully answers all of my queries.  Nothing is ever rushed and I always feel encouraged by him.

Although my creatinine has increased to a little over 200, it has been much higher.  He sees this reading as being in the range which is now normal for me and is pretty relaxed about it.  My other blood test readings are fairly good and I’m only leaking a very small amount of protein into my urine.

There are two positive points to cling onto:

• My kidneys shouldn’t deteriorate from where they are.  There might the effect of a little ageing but this shouldn’t be very noticeable.  They’ll see me out.
• As I’m in good health otherwise, I should do all I can to minimise any risk of diabetes or cardiovascular problems.  Although I am low risk for this kind of thing, I should do all I can to stay in good shape and this includes running.  Yes RUNNING!

I did say I’d like to live for another 40 years.  By the look on his face, I don’t think he was used to such a statement, almost as if I was placing some kind of request for the NHS to deliver and keep me in good health for that time.  “Well” he said “the life expectancy for a man is currently 82 years but some of our patients live longer, so we’ll just have to see what we can do”.

Also I now have some new blood pressure tablets to take as my diastolic bp is still a little too high and this will have a protective effect on my kidneys.  Apparently damaged kidneys push up blood pressure, so it could be a vicious circle but I feel I’m on top of this now.

They will send me another appointment to be seen again in 8 to 12 weeks.  This time I’m having a much wider range of blood and urine tests, just to make sure everything else is going okay.  I still feel cold most of the time and more tired than I should be – it is likely this is just “one of those things” but good being checked out more thoroughly.  I do feel in good hands at the hospital, I’m getting plenty of close attention to keep everything on track – yay!