No. Not a crime. Today's the day I'm committing to doing this challenge. It's three months to go and my training is going well. Various long distance hilly, slow and steady jaunts in the bag. The knee is holding up. Back-to-backs and triple back-to-backs planned. 190 miles ticked off in February. Quite frankly, up until now, there was always a grey doubt-cloud hanging over me with my knee. I can't believe how far I've come, both in distance and confidence, from only a few months ago. A few days in Scotland on the Applecross Peninsula. 18 miles over the pass in the rain, making new friends with the animals.... ...to be rewarded with a lovely view of Skye as the rain clears and the run ends. This is why I do it. Another 26 miles back near home, running down memory lane as I do a loop around the Washburn Valley, up and along the Chevin, down to Menston (where I grew up) along the moors to Ilkley, and back to Timble. Su...
The doubts subside and I'm sleeping better and getting excited. Telling more people makes it real.
"Why are you doing this?" asks just about anyone* I've already bored with my plan, with a look of pained perplexion on their faces. (*Ultrarunners I know excepted - they just want to know more)
So I've been reminding myself that running is actually quite enjoyable. Yes it's hard, and yes there are times that I'd rather be sat relaxing in front of the wood-burning stove/drinking aperol spritz in the summer sun (delete as applicable depending on what time of the year you're reading this). But never after I've done a run - I'm always thankful I did it. And this type of ultra running is slow and it's ok to walk up hills. If you're out of breath you're running too fast. That sounds good, no? The challenge on a really long run is how much you can eat to keep fuelled up. I love food. It's just how my body reacts to it during the run I need to learn.
I've broken down what running gives me into 3 C's: Challenge, Community and Calmness.
Challenge
Pushing myself to do things that I thought I couldn't do gives me a sense of achievement. And achieveing something releases all sorts of positive brain chemicals. Keeping active (strength and aerobic) is something we all need to do as we age - it's the best medicine, bar none.
Community
Being part of a running club and parkrun, making new friends, sharing in others' achievements, volunteering for events, and doing it all with my best friend, running buddy, chief motivator and wife (same person!), imparts a sense of belonging and giving. Parkrun is where I got the bug to run.
Calmness
So I set off for my long run on a Saturday morning whilst staying the weekend in Shropshire helping plant some trees with friends. The hill tops coated in rising cloud. I run/walk up the road. A buzzard flies against the wind in the same direction and at the same speed as me, just metres away. We share a journey for what seems like hours. The dimples of sunlight on the other side of the valley. I'm released from my thoughts. The warm glow of completion as I return.
"Why are you doing this?" they ask.
"Why not?" I say.
But, two days of digging holes for trees, running down steep Shropshire hills and doing lunges incorrectly at the start of my new strength training regime takes its toll and my knee starts to hurt. Maybe it's the thought in my knee of 5 weeks of ultras! I lay off running for a week and do some cross training instead. I do parkrun - my knee holds out. Next day I do an 8-miler. Shouldn't have. Too much too soon. As my knee worsens, the doubt returns: what have I let myself in for?
I'd better get my training plan together. Time is ticking.
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