On Sunday I had a complete failure in the legs department. As I set out on an 11 mile training run with Catherine I felt ok. Normally it takes me awhile to get going, to find my rhythm, but yesterday I never got there. Aside from struggling with my breathing I felt as though my lower body had gone Kim Kardashian overnight. After 3.5 miles doing the Ironman shuffle I told Catherine to carry on without me. I then walked three miles home. This last remark is the most unusual as I despise walking unless there is a purpose, such as walking to the beach or a pub.
Yesterday I decided to erase the memory of the bad run by doing... another run. The trouble with Coogee is that whichever way you head there's a hill to climb, you can't avoid it. Nor did I yesterday as I took myself off south along the coastal path towards Maroubra. It was a great run. Maybe it was the sea breeze on my face, the spectacular view, or that I didn't feel like shit.
Despite it being a great run it wasn't necessarily "fun". The idea of running being fun is alien to me, unless it's on a trail in the country. Admittedly I felt good yesterday and enjoyed it, but mainly when I had finished. Most of my runs are similar to beating myself with a bat, just a little more breathless.
This run and the terrible one I'd like to forget on Sunday got me to thinking, "When have I enjoyed a run and thought it was fun?"
Well it has happened over the last 11 years of running. All be it only a few times. The first was when I ran a cross country 10km race near Salisbury, then when I ran an ultra marathon of 50km at midnight in the middle of nowhere and more recently a 20k trail run and a half marathon PB. There have been times when I've run with friends but they were probably more enjoyable once completed.
So why do it? Why do some of us use our free time to do something we don't find fun?
The easiest way I can explain why I run stupidly long distances is this; I enjoy completing a challenge. That is where the enjoyment comes from. But I don't think it's fun. Mountain biking in Switzerland? That's fun. Playing frisbee? That's fun. Sitting on my arse at the beach, drinking beer and watching the sea? Definitely fun.
I get a level of satisfaction bar none from running for hours and finishing an event alive. It's caveman. It purely satisfies a piece of brain that used to operate frequently under the stress of being chased by large animals, big, hungry animals.
Sadly we don't get chased by anything anymore, so those feelings come from something else. For those that need it we have activities such as running, weight lifting, climbing, cycling, surfing and mountaineering among others to take us to the edge. Yes people find them fun, but a lot of people do them because they need to. It's a drug they need.
Running for me is a way to push myself to physical and mental limits, to go beyond them, to accomplish something extraordinary. I enjoy it when it's finished, then I can relax knowing I completed what I set out to do. The fun is enjoying that knowledge whilst sipping a cold beer!
Tomorrow is a running day, til next time...
Tom :)
- Posted from the modern day type writer
Tuesday 24 February 2015
Thursday 19 February 2015
Just do it
Getting back into running and writing are similarly difficult. Having had a break from running for a few months and writing for a few weeks it is a struggle to get back into both.
On the upside I am extremely motivated and enthusiastic about running again after a good rest from it. Catherine and I are going to run at the Barossa marathon at the end of May and hopefully enjoy some wine afterwards! On the downside it feels as though I have started all over again with running. It's hard to breathe, I feel heavier (I am) and my body is not sharing the enthusiasm that I so readily possess.
Writing is very much the same after a considerable break all be it without the breathlessness. Sitting down to write creatively is like drawing blood from a stone, I have been sat staring at the page hoping for my imagination to kick in and conjure something decent for me to scribble down.
When I get to this stage in any activity I try to remind myself what certain close friends would say. My uber wise friend Mike "Turnip" Cavendish would often say "just do it!" This would probably be followed with "you fat, lazy tart." Even without the latter the simple message is the best. Just doing it is where you begin. You don't start a marathon program by talking about it. Nor do you write a book by telling people about the story. You just start. It may be a pain in the arse (literally with running) and you may only do a small amount, but getting out and doing it consistently is the only way you will achieve what you have been gabbing on about for so long.
As I write these words I have done what I encourage you to do above. I ran my training run this morning and then sat down to write this. Tomorrow I will do the same and the day after that too. It won't be easy, but now is the time to "just do it".
Happy running and writing!
Tom :)
- Posted from the modern day type writer
On the upside I am extremely motivated and enthusiastic about running again after a good rest from it. Catherine and I are going to run at the Barossa marathon at the end of May and hopefully enjoy some wine afterwards! On the downside it feels as though I have started all over again with running. It's hard to breathe, I feel heavier (I am) and my body is not sharing the enthusiasm that I so readily possess.
Writing is very much the same after a considerable break all be it without the breathlessness. Sitting down to write creatively is like drawing blood from a stone, I have been sat staring at the page hoping for my imagination to kick in and conjure something decent for me to scribble down.
When I get to this stage in any activity I try to remind myself what certain close friends would say. My uber wise friend Mike "Turnip" Cavendish would often say "just do it!" This would probably be followed with "you fat, lazy tart." Even without the latter the simple message is the best. Just doing it is where you begin. You don't start a marathon program by talking about it. Nor do you write a book by telling people about the story. You just start. It may be a pain in the arse (literally with running) and you may only do a small amount, but getting out and doing it consistently is the only way you will achieve what you have been gabbing on about for so long.
As I write these words I have done what I encourage you to do above. I ran my training run this morning and then sat down to write this. Tomorrow I will do the same and the day after that too. It won't be easy, but now is the time to "just do it".
Happy running and writing!
Tom :)
- Posted from the modern day type writer
Tuesday 10 February 2015
Back to normal :(
I am sat in my new local coffee shop in order to tap out this blog post, a month after the last one! Time has flown by and I can't believe that Catherine and I have married and moved home in that time. As the dust settles I'm sure we will start to enjoy married life in our new home (we are already, we just can't believe it's all happened).
We both had an amazing time seeing all of you that made it out here and missed all of those who couldn't. Hopefully we will all be able to relive the wedding day (minus the alcohol and great food) when we receive the wedding video footage. I think it will be epic as Mike A. had a setup similar to David Attenborough's wildlife team- with cameras in the trees and from a variety of angles- but don't be concerned, I'm sure he'll edit the drunken parts ;) Soon we'll have the wedding photos back too, but in the meantime I have setup this DropBox in order to share all our photos from a million different angles. It is empty at the moment because I have no photos! If you don't mind sharing then please feel free to use it:
So we moved! How about that for doing lots of stressful (and amazing) things all at once! Long story short our landlord told us she wanted to sell the flat the Monday after the wedding, we took a day to look at flats the following Saturday, found an amazing one, were told we were successful on the Monday and moved in on the Thursday. Tomorrow we will have been in for a week and thanks to Fran, Tony, Mike and Doug we are mostly unpacked. We now have a spare room, with a bed to follow, so there's a place for you to stay. Applications to Tom at..... ;)
I am going to leave this post at that for now and update you on other things when I have another chance. I'll leave you with a new view from our new area:
We both had an amazing time seeing all of you that made it out here and missed all of those who couldn't. Hopefully we will all be able to relive the wedding day (minus the alcohol and great food) when we receive the wedding video footage. I think it will be epic as Mike A. had a setup similar to David Attenborough's wildlife team- with cameras in the trees and from a variety of angles- but don't be concerned, I'm sure he'll edit the drunken parts ;) Soon we'll have the wedding photos back too, but in the meantime I have setup this DropBox in order to share all our photos from a million different angles. It is empty at the moment because I have no photos! If you don't mind sharing then please feel free to use it:
So we moved! How about that for doing lots of stressful (and amazing) things all at once! Long story short our landlord told us she wanted to sell the flat the Monday after the wedding, we took a day to look at flats the following Saturday, found an amazing one, were told we were successful on the Monday and moved in on the Thursday. Tomorrow we will have been in for a week and thanks to Fran, Tony, Mike and Doug we are mostly unpacked. We now have a spare room, with a bed to follow, so there's a place for you to stay. Applications to Tom at..... ;)
I am going to leave this post at that for now and update you on other things when I have another chance. I'll leave you with a new view from our new area:
See you when we have Internet,
Tom :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)