Well, that has been a busy week.
I had been giving myself a telling off for not getting out the door for Saturday Parkrun, and while I think my running suffered today because of the lack of activity yesterday, I’m now feeling okay about slacking off a little.
Before today I had only run on Tuesday night, so my weekly mileage has been terrible. Consistency is supposed to be key and all that. And I did feel like a shirker when I didn’t do my long run in the week and didn’t do the parkrun sandwich to compensate. But thank heavens for new months to get the push going again. Not quite as powerful as Jan 01, but I’m feeling the love for Feb 01 and getting back into the swing of things.
It’s been busy because our club had its AGM and Awards Night. As I’m the current secretary, and part of a team in charge of one of our leagues, I needed to write a report, and collate and write the minutes which I’ve just finished this afternoon.
Also, Anne’s mum came to stay for a night. She hasn’t done this for well over a year because her dog was getting old, infirm and grumpy, and now that he’s gone to doggy heaven, she’s a bit freer to get out visiting. This time she went to see Hamnet with Anne while I made butter chicken for us all. After the food and some fizz, she wanted to check that she had enough calling credit on her mobile. She had thought WhatsApp was only for text messages (she is ninety, so that’s understandable). So, we got her set up to do free calls and, more importantly, video calls, and the wider family has been warned.
We also celebrated our youngest grandson’s third birthday this week. He’s a miracle child; at a number of points we weren’t sure if he would make it to his first birthday. He has cerebral palsy now with all the myriads of curve balls thrown at him in that first year, but he has developed such a winning personality, and bit by bit, he shows us all new skills that he has developed.
Finally, today, our club hosted a race for the Borders League on a thankfully dry morning. Thanks to Colin, our club Borders League organiser it went very well, and I think the other clubs enjoyed it, not least because there were proper toilets near the start line, which is always welcome.
I knew the race was going to be hard, and I was tempted to hang back with my club mate Karen, who is in her sixties and recently been throwing out parkrun and triathlon PBs like it’s out of fashion. Twenty yards after we started, she began to strip off.
‘I don’t think I need this long sleeve and the club tee-shirt.’
Trouble was the tee was over the long sleeve, so she had to take one off and then the other (there was a sports bra underneath), all while running up a gradual incline. Can this woman get any more talented? I stayed with her and held on to the long sleeve while she got her Pensby tee-shirt back on, and then she shooed me onwards.
I thought I’d increased my speed and left Karen far behind, but when I crossed the finishing line she was a mere thirty seconds behind me! In between that start and finish, I managed to chat with several compadres along the way, many of whom were silver-haired, who I often say hello to in other local races. After a conflab with Mary from Wallasey, for instance, she assumed I’d be pushing forward ahead of her, but as she had recently knocked out a 2:07 at the Four Villages Half Marathon (mine was 2:15 something) I absolutely knew that she was not for the beating.
It was a terrific, well attended race and I was pleased to ignore the voice that sometimes tells me to stay in the warm and not go outside. Obviously, it’s early days given that it is only the 1st, but I think this month is going to propel me forward on to good things.
theleadlesspencil 