Following the recent injection in my arthritic foot, I’ve now had my first two runs. Here’s a few thoughts.
The first was at Centre Parcs, when my youngest daughter dragged me out for a 3 mile run, except it was 4 miles. By her own admission, she knew it was 4 miles but didn’t want to put me off. It wasn’t exactly flat either.
It was only on the last slope that I needed to walk. When I say “slope” I can say it felt like running up Hardknott Pass, except it wasn’t at all. It was a gentle incline of less than 100 yards but I still needed to walk.
We encountered a few puddles on the way, most were circumvented by tiptoeing around the edge and therefore enabling me to have a little rest and admire the view (as if), plus making the most of some heavy breathing to try and recover a bit before the next stage of the slog.
I didn’t get the Runner’s High afterwards. Instead I was tired, a bit achy and cold. Speaking of being cold, I managed to catch a cold and have only just managed to shake that off in time for today.
Today’s run was shorter, just 1.5 miles and deliberately included a hill. I accomplished this run, around some of our village, without too much difficulty. It took me 16 minutes, which is rather slow compared to my previous speed. It was still rather cold; that short time is barely enough to get warmed up.
But I’m now a little older, completely unfit and so on. Should I console myself? Surely going from no running to running for these distances isn’t too bad for an unfit 62 year old? I know I have put on quite a bit of weight since I was a regular runner, so I suppose it will take me time to burn the fat off and become a bit leaner.
I remember in times gone by, for several years I used to run every day in December – a great way of beating the grotty weather and finishing the year off nicely. In fact I’d say that some of my most memorable runs were in the month of December. No matter whether it was running out into the countryside on the weekend, or running the streets after work one day, each time it was special and I absolutely loved it.
Somehow those times when the weather was truly awful were actually the best runs. Even sub-zero runs in woodland areas were great, or along the frozen canal towpath; all special. Perhaps the most exhilarating runs were into horizontal snow or sleet – those truly were fantastic and marvellous at leaving all the stresses of the day behind me!
Related post – Running again