[Warning: this post does not contain running]
Just a quick administrative heads-up: I’m moving this blog to a different server. It should be a transparent process ((Well, apart from the sub-title up at the top of the page being “…On a new server.” for a little while, so I can tell what’s where.)). If you see anything odd going on — broken links, pages not displaying correctly, anything like that, please let me know in the comments here (assuming you can!)
Thanks!
Matt
You may have noticed a short hiatus on the blog. That’s related to the short hiatus in my running.
As I mentioned last time, I’ve been feeling a bit tired and run down this month. As a result, I’ve not really been looking forward to going out for a run, especially on the dark weekday evenings. And at the weekends, I’ve either been feeling a bit poorly or been a little too busy to get out.
Plus, it’s been absolutely bloody freezing. It’s not easy to get out the door when it’s dark and ‑2C outside.
As Arline said in the comments here a couple of posts ago, “There seems to be a fine line between not doing some thing because you really need a break, and not doing it because your motivation just isn’t there.”
And I think I’m on the other side of that line now — I really need a break.
Generally, I’m an all-or-nothing kind of person. Which I why, I think, I’ve been a little scared to take some time off running. There’s always that worry in the back of my mind that I might not start again. But the build-up of stuff this month — the lack of motivation, the aches and pains, the general Christmas not-enough-time syndrome, the cold snap — have maybe been pointing towards the conclusion that yes, it would probably be good for me to take a few weeks off running.
When I finally had that thought, on the walk home from work a few days ago, my brain did a little happy backflip as it changed from it’s “oh my God I haven’t been running for nearly two weeks argh” guilt-trip to a new, serene, “maybe it’s actually okay to give myself a break and start again in the new year” mode of thinking.
And I reckon that’s what decided me, in the end. It’s an especially good time to take a break, not just because I need it, but because there’s a new year coming up soon, and that will be a great re-starting point. Especially as I’ve signed up for the Bath Half in March, so I’ll have something to train for…
So, I am officially giving myself the rest of the month off. I’m tired, I’m achey, it’s cold, it’s dark, I have less free time than usual, and, fundamentally, I just plain feel like it. I’ve been running for eighteen months or so now, and I’ve not really had even a week off in all that time. Even when I’ve been on holidays I’ve done miles of hiking.
So, I’m taking a short holiday from running. I’m keeping up some exercise; I’m walking to work and back, which is about 5km a day. And just because I’m officially giving myself the rest of the month off doesn’t mean I won’t nip out for a sneaky run if I suddenly feel like it on a sunny weekend day…
Mostly, in fact, it’s not running I’m giving up for the month, but the guilt about not running. Which seems like a good thing to skip for a few weeks.
So, hopefully that explains the hiatus. I shall probably find something to blog about between now and Christmas, but if not, then have a happy holiday, everyone!
I was a Sad Santa on Sunday.
As were these other people. We’d all made our way to the Lloyds Amphitheatre to take part in Santas on the Run, a 2K charity fun run for the South West Children’s Hospice. As you’ll have worked out, the idea is for everyone to dress as Santa for the run, and apparently more than 500 people had signed up for the event. Some kind people had already contributed on my Just Giving page, I’d collected some sponsorship at work, and I’d tipped off the local paparazzi. Well, I’d mentioned it on the Bristol Flickr group’s discussion board, anyway…
I did have some reservations on the walk down to the start, though. And yes, I did walk a mile down the Hotwell Road at 10am on a Sunday morning dressed in a Santa costume. There was hooting involved. And some occasional pointing. Not to mention half the police in the South West driving past on their way to their afternoon’s student demo (my pics of that here) crowd control duties. That was a bit odd.
But my reservations were mainly about traction. It had been a bloody cold night after quite a rainy Saturday, and the ground was icy everywhere. It was also so foggy you could barely see the other side of the harbour. “On way down to register for #santasontherun,” I tweeted. “Hope they’ve gritted the route, or it’ll be Santas on their backside instead.”
The lack of Santas when I got to the Amphitheatre was a clue, and my suspicions were confirmed by a couple of the organisers greeting me with disappointed faces and the news that the route was just too icy to be safe. The Amphitheatre itself had pretty much been a skating rink when they arrived to set up, and the rest of the route — especially Pero’s Bridge, often a curve of slippery metal in Winter — were still un-runnable.
So, I and the other Santas who’d not heard the cancellation announcements on local radio headed off across Millennium Square, pictured above, to the kind, warm interior of The Living Room, a fashionable and lovely bar who gave a free hot drink to anyone in a Santa suit that morning — thank you!
After a commiseration drink with my friend José, who’d come along to support me, I drifted back home, still be-Santa-suited, and still garnering the odd confused look and occasional cheery hoot.
There is some good news, though — I heard from Children’s Hospice yesterday, and they’re rearranging the run for January 23rd! So, odd though it will be to be dressed as a Santa nearly a month after Christmas, I’ll at least get the chance to do something surreal and, more to the point, give my various sponsors the run that I owe them 🙂
So, thank you, kind sponsors, for sponsoring me, and rest assured I still intend to run 2K as Santa, no matter what time of year it is when it’s finally safe to run!
These last couple of weeks I do feel a bit like I’ve just been going through the motions. I’ve been busy, tired, and feeling rather run down. On Wednesday, I got home feeling tired and run down and really not wanting to go for a run. And it was bloody cold outside.
“Maybe I could go tomorrow?” I thought.
Then I remembered that that’s what I’d said on Tuesday, too. So, summoning what little motivation I had, I got myself out and ran a boring 5K down the Portway.
Because, sometimes, going through the motions is a better option than just not going through the motions.
Bleurgh. Been a bit too busy to update, mostly because I spent most of the weekend before last either in London in a pub, or in Bristol entertaining people, often in a pub…
As a result, I was completely knackered last week, and haven’t been running much. Also, I think I may be coming down with something — my eczema is playing up, as it often does before I start a cold. And I’m severely overdue, as they’ve been dropping like coughing, spluttery flies in the office.
Still, to try and get back into the swing of things, I struggled out for 3K on Wednesday, and at least ran around the harbour for 5K on Sunday.
And that’s all the update I’m doing today, as I’ve got a bit of a headache, and I think I’m going to have an early night…
Not a terrible effort tonight, though it didn’t go as planned. I’ve got a bit bored with the run/walk combination of the RunKeeper “FitnessPlan” I’m following, so I thought I’d just go out for a normal run.
As it is though, partly because I’m tired today, and partly because I was overambitious with my speed at the start, it turned into a run/walk session anyway. Still, I managed to do 5K in under 35 minutes, which is definitely better than my recent averages.
Next time I try a normal run, I’ll see what I can do to start off at a normal pace!
Inspired by Jose’s post about early morning running yesterday, I decided to drag myself out of bed and head out at around 7am this morning. Naturally I failed to do that, but I was underway by about 7:30 🙂
Unfortunately, my plan to head out along the Portway and up Bridge Valley Road to jog around the Downs in the next instalment of my getting-faster-for-the-Bath-Half FitnessClass thingy was scuppered. I’d got about 250 metres into it when I saw that the entire Portway, pavement to pavement, was closed.
D’oh. So, instead, I figured I’d run around the harbourside instead. I wasn’t entirely sure where I’d end up, but at least I’d never be too far from civilisation. My 6‑and-a-bit kilometres took me around the Floating Harbour about one and a half times, and was pretty nice. It started dull, grey and uninspiring, but in the almost-hour I was running for, it brightened up and turned into a lovely day.
Yes, I was running for almost an hour, to do less than 7K. This morning felt like a morning for taking it easy, so I didn’t push myself during the running, and took the opportunity to take some pictures during the walking breaks, which didn’t help my average pace much!
Then home, having popped into Sainsbury’s to buy some ham, to try my hand at making Eggs Benedict for the first time. It turned out pretty good, even if I do say so myself…
When someone at work emailed me about Santas on the Run, it didn’t take me long to sign up. I mean, for only a tenner you get to run around Bristol city centre in a Santa costume with a bunch of other nutcases without actually being arrested. And you get to keep the Santa suit afterwards! Bargain!
Unfortunately, this decision ended up dinging my self-confidence. This evening I arrived home from work to find a parcel on the doorstep — it was the race pack from Santas on the Run. In it was their “adult” Santa Suit (no, nothing filthy, it’s just that the only size choices were “adult” and “child”.) And that’s where my problems started.
Because it turns out that running Santa Suits, like most other running clothing, are sized for fit, slim people.
I can’t even get the trousers all the way up my legs. There’s no way I can run in the thing. SAD FACE.
So, yeah, it’s official: I’m lardier than Santa. This made me really rather unhappy. It’s a bit of a bruise to your ego when a charity implies that you’re fatter than the world’s most famous jolly fat bloke. I could have cried. Well, okay, maybe not. But I could have sat down and eaten ice cream all evening with a forlorn look on my face.
Instead I went out and did some more walk/run training. Which I think is working, as I did 6K in 45 minutes, so around 7:30mins/kilometre, which is better than I usually do when I’m running all the way. (And as a bonus I hit the iTunes Genius and for once it generated me a fantastic running playlist, which I’ve now saved.) And I came back feeling a lot happier.
Anyway. When I get over the crushing disappointment of Santa Suitgate, maybe I’ll think of a way to still take part in this race. Although hiring a Santa suit that’s actually Santa sized might be going a bit too far for a 2K run…
Today was another jog along the Portway, according to the training plan thingy I’m following. Considering it was four-minutes-running/one-minute-walking (x8) my overall pace was pretty good. Anyway. Not a thrilling run, and it’s late, so I won’t go on about it 🙂
Yeah. Not entirely sure I believe the last few kilometres of RunKeeper’s log for today’s run:
Especially considering the pace over the last couple of kilometres measured around 1.5 minutes per kilometre. Although I suppose I would probably have needed that kind of speed to fly over the Avon Gorge and several tall buildings like that.
Still, not a bad run — I’m still doing the FitnessClass thing, which had me set to do just over 10K today, as an alternating run/walk. I reckon I probably did around 9K all told, but I was a bit stymied for knowing when to stop after the GPS gave out around the 7K mark. (It really died quite hard; in the end I had to turn the phone off and on again to get it back and working. Ho hum.)
In fact, I’ve just tried to correct the route manually in RunKeeper and it does seem to have worked out at about 9K. Good enough for me, especially as there was at least another kilometre of walk home on the end of that 🙂
This week I’ll really really try to do the two mid-week runs, rather than just the one I’ve been doing these last few weeks…
