Running to Learn

I have loved my week of running! At first it felt a bit hard to have done week 1 of ‘proper training’ and to wake up to week 2, expecting to be run too!

This is something I have learned over the years, to take a day at a time, a run at a time, a minute at a time; because the next one is following closely behind, wanting to be lived too, in its richness or in its emptiness. All moments are there to be lived and in order for us to feel energized to live each one to the full, each one must be lived to the full, with not too much ‘looking ahead’

So on Monday morning I decided to have a rest day, and live that to the full! – to allow for the work I did last week to take effect and to feel ready to ‘run again ‘on Tuesday!  This was just as well…

Fi and I ran 8 miles on the downs in the morning and then as she dropped me off at my home, she asked what I felt about meeting for intervals later … we met again at 6pm on the seafront to run 10 x 90seconds with 30 second jog recovery.

I am very glad I did it, firstly because I loved running side by side with Fi again, running faster, and feeling like me, secondly because I remembered the joy of breathing hard and stretching out and thirdly because of the race I have just run today and it reminded me not to go off too fast!

I didn’t recover at all really in the 30 seconds ‘recovery phase’, well a bit, but I was still breathing hard at the start of the repetition, so in effect ‘body system –wise’ I did a continuous ‘effort’!

However, it was perfect preparation for the race a Sussex League X country race. I realised as I drove there that it was 7 years since I donned a pair of spikes. I had had to hunt around for them at the bottom of my ‘show cupboard’ and the actual spiky bits too, which I found in a kitchen drawer!

I felt nervous and excited as I drove over; I wasn’t aiming high, I knew I was much less fit than 6 months ago, but the thrill of the chase never fails to excite me and the feeling of anticipation expands me somehow. I also loved seeing all my team mates, the familiar faces going back over 20 years!

As I ran round, finishing eventually in 28^th place I reflected that the feeling is no different to flying along at the front. Well not to me now anyway because fortunately for my soul, my self worth does not depend on my running results.

However this does not stop me aiming high – ‘I’ll get fitter’ – I announced to Tom, our team manager after the race.

Last week, I discovered that I finished the year no 3 over 50 year old, in the UK for the marathon. Months of injury of course mean that I have lost fitness, but as Judith, one of my team mates said ‘ if you came back as fit without training, what would be the point of training’!?

Fortunately the gym work has kept me ‘fit enough’ to run, but not as race fit as I was or will be!

But, what was more enriching than anything was the feeling of connection, to me and my soul in motion, just running free and also to the relationships that have grown and blossomed, simply by meeting at muddy venues around Sussex over the past 20 years.

On another note my friend Mark is has a running challenge with his friends to raise money for TSA THE TUBEROUS SCLEROSIS ASSOCIATION.

In their own words this is their challenge and if you would like to support them, this is the link to their just giving page

www.justgiving.co.uk/yorkwalls

‘We were discussing running a marathon, decided it was boring, so came up with the idea for setting a world record for running round York City Walls. The boys from the black Irish drink wouldn’t ratify it so it is an unofficial World Record attempt!! Hating running, being 40, heavy boned, with dodgy knees (Nick) should make for a short lived record.  Luckily the rest of the team (David F, David C, Mark, Phil, Paul) are amazingly fit, healthy, running machines so running dawn till dusk round a 2 1/2 mile circuit of rough stone walls with steps should be a walk in the park.  We are raising money for The TSA because Sam, Nick’s little boy, has the condition.  Sam has brain tumours, epilepsy, polycystic kidney disease and learning delay.  We are running in Feb cos’ it’s near his birthday and not, as some of you cynics might think, because the days are shorter!!  Research in TSC is currently at a very exciting stage with the first drug treatment released in 2011.  Your money is needed to make sure research continues to find further treatments for the various symptoms of the condition. So give us some of your money and laugh at the thought of just how much pain we are going to be in’!!

Thanks

Paul Barnet, Mark Cage, David Cropper, Nick Dale, David Foster, Phil Jackson and everyone who suffers from TSC.

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