Karen writes: First Sunday winter run

It's been a long time since I got out for a Sunday run, but this morning, the girls were away with their grandparents, and I was a free agent.  And I nearly, nearly rolled over and went back to sleep at 5 am when the first alarm went for early breakfast, oh madness, who wants to get up and go for a run when it's only 3 degrees according to the indoor gauge?  But, breakfast it was, and I was out the door just after 7, enough layers on to feel like a moving washing pile, but oh what a beautiful day.  Yaaaay frost, I could leave the first footprints across the paddock at Te Puru, draw pictures in pristine sparkly surfaces like picnic tables and boardwalks.  Ok, I still haven't figured out how to concentrate on being a serious runner yet, I think I never will.

Not helped by the introduction of music to my runs.  Everyone else seems to do it, Kate does it, I felt like a luddite wandering along taking in the sounds of life, and because it seemed everyone else had their ears full talking was out, so can't win, it's time to join 'em.  Well sort of, I can only cope with one ear having an earphone in at a time, I still can't quite let myself sink into a self contained little world and not know what is going on around me. The tipping point was a friend who claimed not to be ABLE to run without music, apparently returning home for music if it had been forgotten and a run was planned.  So, I've been trying for a few weeks now with varying degrees of success.  Running with music almost works for me if I... have phone charged, remember earphones, the earphones work, and I can figure out the controls without screwing up the GPS. I've also realised that very little of my music is going to promote better running performance, there is some hard out stuff that would kill me if I tried to use it to set a tempo, and plenty of slow wander-along stuff, not a lot between the two extremes it seems.  I'm also finding that I'm listening to the lyrics more closely than I might normally, as a result I've decided that some music is just plain annoying...so pause to delete. I guess while I am trying to join the music movement, I still haven't got the hang of it yet, and as I'm not particularly sold yet I can take or leave the sounds when I run for now.

Today I managed about 25 km, reassuring given that I only have about 5 weeks to my next marathon and training has...as usual in recent times...been a bit patchy.  So 25 km today, if I can fit in 28 sometime next week, then a 30 or two, I might be ready.

The high point today was catching up with an amazing lady from the next door town.  She was heading off, with the support of her husband following along in his car, to run her first 21 km as a celebration of her mum's birthday (mum lives a long way away).  She had lost a huge amount of weight as she had journeyed to become a runner, and she tick ticked along the road at a steady pace, wow.  I asked about what food she was taking for her expected 4 hour effort and as a result her fabulous husband/support crew went up the road for electrolytes and jellybeans.  I ran for a bit with her, went ahead, did a couple of loops off catching up on occasion and finally turned for home and left her for the last time when she had done 15 km out in the countryside somewhere.  She was looking steady and determined, I was so impressed and was a bit of a pest suggesting she should do an event.  It's something like that that reminds you how much you learn over time about making life easier as a distance runner, food, drink, and yes you are allowed to walk up hills and still call yourself a runner. What an amazing couple, made my day, goodness, they made my week.

So I'm feeling pretty on track for the next event, not sure how much use running in the lower than usual temperatures is getting ready for a run in Australia, but as we have learned over the years, take it easy, deal with what you can, the day will take care of itself even if I have to walk.  I'm starting to get a bit excited about it, roll on August!

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