It's good for me.

Last week’s blog post did the trick, the following two days I was out running and I surprised myself with a new fastest time for my monthly benchmark run. Every four weeks I run the same route and see how my time compares, on Thursday it took 60 minutes 13 seconds, a full minute faster than before.

The blog effect was short lived. A bit of drizzle on Saturday morning was enough deterrent. I could blame being away from home for the weekend but since I had a running buddy lined up there really is no justification. I was just being lazy, so was the running buddy who didn’t drag me out of bed.

Luckily Monday is a mini motivator. Every new week, I allow myself to turn over a new leaf and re-set the ‘number of runs missed’ counter back to zero. Determined to keep it that way I ran today. I also had a reminder of why sometimes doing what’s good for you isn’t always good.

Eating oily fish is supposed to be good for me. It should help my brain function and is good for my joints so it’s important for running. A can of sardines in olive oil were part of my lunch at around 12.30, or perhaps today it was later maybe 1.30. Anyway the slightly fishy smell that lingered in the office afterwards was long forgotten when I set out to run at 3pm. My stomach was still working on the fish oil and provided a gentle reminder every time I tried to pick up the pace or push up a hill. – Fishy repeats, yuck.

I say ‘every time’ as though I’m persistently trying to push myself harder. It’s a nice image I hold in fantasy world I sometimes allow my mind to inhabit. In reality after a couple of sardine repeats today I moved comfortably into cruise gear and even gave myself permission to walk a few times.

Regardless of effort I was out there in the sunshine putting my well oiled joints to work and haven’t missed a run this week.

The Perfect Excuse.

11 Weeks into my half marathon training program and I’m in need of new motivation to get me through the next 13 weeks.

Yesterday I paid my entrance fee for the Dunedin Half-Marathon (13th September). I know every training run I miss will make the half marathon harder. For that reason I have decided to go public with regular progress updates by blogging. It doesn’t matter if no one reads them. I am hoping that the though of someone reading them will be another motivator to get me away from the fire and running this winter.

This morning there were no “if’s” or “maybe’s” on going for a run. With a generous coating of snow, the streets of Dunedin were no place for running. It would have been perfect if the cancelled run meant a lie-in but with no chance of the car leaving the drive until a thaw I had to walk to work.
Normal activities of the town were derailed on the same scale as in London when a few flakes settle. Most people stayed home the office was deserted, all the schools were closed and the highways out of town in both directions were closed until mid afternoon.

[Stuart St - Rush Hour - Photo by Pete]



Bored in the empty office, I came home at lunchtime. At sea level, in town the snow had turned to mush. I even saw a couple of runners out, probably taking advantage of their unexpected day off to get a long run in. I dispelled my guilt knowing that further up the hill at home it was still snowing. It arrived home with a nice covering of snow.
After some warming tea and toast I went out again in the afternoon to get supplies incase tomorrow is the same. I meant to take a few photos but before I managed to get my camera out I had been drawn into the local bar by promises of mulled wine.

[Off to work - Photo by Pete]