Winter Running

Running is a very strange phenomenon. Three weeks after Comrades, I found myself back on the road with a new race in mind. But three weeks of ‘rest’ means that my mind reverted back to ‘default’ thinking. Ten kilometres is far! But that is what my program says and hubby is my biggest driver at the moment, almost forcing me out on the road.  Ten kays. My inner voice starts screaming at me. ‘Are you mad? What the...’ Anyways, I recognise this tune so I keep my head down and plod. Everything felt heavy and sluggish. The cement bricks in my legs groaned and creaked as my body began to unwrinkle from the winter slumber.

Around 5 kays my breathing quickened and not because of a mean uphill. I needed the bathroom. NOW! We hadn’t gone out of our area but I knew we were still too far for a dash home, so I contemplated my options. Hubby offered the garage, but I remembered there is a pub closer to us. I told him of my plan and I think he saw the desperation in my eyes so we cut up towards the pub. We aren’t drinkers so going into the pub in the middle of any day was rather strange and all the men stopped their chit chat and watched as I ducked to the back for the toilet. Hubby stood a respectful distance away outside. I was too desperate to care. Nature’s call answered, we headed back out weaving through streets trying to make up the distance. It felt like we had been running for hours but in reality was only one (and a bit).

Sunday’s program said another 10kays, so I thought I would try out my running pants that I had bought for our upcoming marathon. Loch Ness marathon is in September in Scotland so I am preparing for any kind of weather, but long trouser running is new for me. I pulled them on and we set off. 30 metres down the road, my new trousers had their own plan. They had started to roll down my bum. Hubby and sister laughed and gave me a few options of rolling the waistband but this didn’t help. 50 meters away I realised that my 10km would be extremely long if I was fiddling with my trousers the whole way, so I turned back to change. Immediately lighter, my run felt better and my cement legs were a thing of the past. We set off in the mid-solstice sun to run through the ‘hood. It was a much nicer run for me than the day before and I actually felt good. So with a rest day today it’s back to the drawing board to find myself 'troosers' that stay on!

Wish me luck!