After a couple of weeks, with only intermittent opportunities to get on the treadmill, I was more than relieved to get back out on the pavement this past weekend.
And I am more than a bit pleased with my efforts… particularly given that I stuck an extra couple of kilometres on Saturday’s run:
I was definitely in the zone. 🚀
Sunday morning…
10.36 km – 56:49 min – 5’28” pace
Longer! Harder! Faster! Stronger!
🚀
It’s been three weeks of nothing but the hard monotonous patter of the treadmill due to intermittent travel, a bout of illness, snow((I will run in almost any conditions but I draw the line at snow.)) and a busy end to half-term. So, it was an absolute delight to lace up my Nikes this morning and step out into the crisp late-winter air.
Not a bad time or pace either!
8.65 km – 48:05 min – 5’33” pace
Fantastic run this morning. The air was fresh and crisp and I kept a consistent pace throughout. Not my quickest time but not far off my average:
10.03 km – 56:40 min – 5’38” pace
My current goal (after reading Footnotes) is to run without music.
Today, I ran the first five kilometres with music at half my normal volume; and the second five kilometres with it at less than a quarter of my normal volume. No impact on my pace and I was even more aware of the world around me…
I’m currently reading Footnotes by Vybarr Cregan-Reid. My run on Sunday morning reminded me of this passage from the book:
“We runners know that once you settle down deeply into pace, you settle just as deeply into the landscape; you huddle into it. The reason that the experience of the landscape can be so intense is that you become part of it. What you are feeling is an analogue for what the place is feeling as it feels itself, and you.”
Following the downpour on Saturday and seeing the thermometer read one degrees Celsius, I decided it was best to stick to the trails. I was rewarded by finding myself ‘huddled into’ my surroundings. The sun shone through the gaps in the trees; the air was crisp and fresh; and the trail was familiar – like an old friend. I had ‘settled’ in and found myself ‘deeply’ connected to the landscape around me.
It is these moments, and they happen more and more often, that have turned running into a necessary part of my life.
I don’t want to run. I have to run!