Sunday
18th January
Run
#18
A
slippery 6k pavement run
Everything about this run
felt doomed from the start. I woke up later than I’d expected. Later in fact than I thought I'd be
back by on account of a late night and not setting an alarm. So I was grumpy
and resentful before I even got going. One of those days when I could
have done with giving myself a stern talking to and a metaphorical slap. But I
hoped that once I got going the run might do that for me.
Usually, as much as I
might not want to go for a run, once I get out there and get a few ks under my
feet I can feel the attitude adjustment and the mardy moodiness and feist tends
to give way to something more positive; even if not a ‘love’ of the run, definitely
a less self-indulgent mithering.
This run did not go like
that.
The first hurdle was where
to go. Being as I was located in some of the loveliest of England’s green and pleasant
lands down in the West Country I had been thinking that I might take a drive
out and find a really pretty and rewarding rural run out somewhere. Maybe even
down to the coast for some sea air. But given that I was almost out of morning
given my oversleeping and knowing I had to drive back to the big smoke in only
a few hours it didn't seem such a feasible plan any more. So I just headed off along some uninspiring residential streets.
Barely a few steps out the
gate and it became clear that staying upright was going to be a challenge! The
pavements were thick with frost that had yet to burn off and my boxfresh
runners felt like they probably still had some factory coating on the soles:
grip was non-existent! And so began a weird part-run, part-skate complete with
windmill arms and a drunken looking weave across the roads and I tried to seek
out every sunlit bit of pavement in the hope of more grip.
It could have been fun,
but it wasn’t. My mood did not improve and the angry was not being run away. Being
a Sunday it should have been a long run. Some decent ks. But after 4k, and only
about 2k from home I assessed how I felt, realised I wasn't winning today, and
turned for home.
While it’s true that usually I’ll enjoy it once I get going I also
promised myself that, if after 2k that ever really wasn't the case, I would let
myself stop. This was the first time in as long as I can remember that I've taken myself up on that promise. So it wasn't a long run. And if you factor in
that I bought runners almost primarily for the long run I’d planned to do, it
was probably one of the most expensive per-k runs I've ever done in the UK.
But you can’t win ‘em all.
At least I got out there. And there’s always tomorrow.
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