long running habits

 

I am pleased to say I've been doing more running these days. Just as well, since I didn't really shift last Winter's seasonal flab, and if we get to the end of the Summer without any weight loss I'd be doomed for the approaching Winter and another layer of spare tyre in addition. I originally started running to lose the weight put on after I gave up smoking just before the turn of the millennium. I enjoyed it (running, not smoking, although I did enjoy smoking as well and was very good at it) and channelled much of my competitive nature into doing it well.

When covid stopped all events for a couple of years I lost the enthusiasm for competitive running though kept a basic fitness. However without events to train for I didn't put in the effort I used to and it became a chore to run rather than a pleasure. I put my heart into photography which fulfilled the creative urge more and while using my fitness to get about (on a bicycle or running between train stations and bus stops) it has been a while since I really enjoyed the process.

12th August - first run together in a couple of years

20th August, hill reps

The main inspiration behind my running has always been Mary. She coached me out the door at the start of my running career and whenever she has been injured or out of running for a while, my interest has drifted. The last 2.5 years she has struggled with injury and has had to be extremely cautious about how she has gradually returned to being able to run again. For a while it looked unlikely she would ever get back to normal. And with nobody chasing me out the door I let my running slide too. It is quite easy to stop signing up for events. However as you age, fitness is not an optional extra, it becomes a life and death issue. In the last few months Mary, through lots of discipline and hard work, has got herself back running. A long slow journey. For ages she had to run solo without distractions (concentrating on foot placement and avoiding re-injuries) but finally allowed me to join her for runs and Team Hunter-Buchanan were back!

24th August. Notable for being the first longer run together in at least 2 years. Mary invited me to go with her on a route we have done before. I wasn't super keen but the weather wasn't great for butterflies and I knew I should just bite the bullet and go for a run. It would be about 13 miles and went down the cyclepath to the prom at Silverknowes and back along the front. Nice easy pace. Normally the longer days out I'd been doing were run/walk affairs and with a heavy bag of camera equipment, juice and sandwiches on my back and were nothing like this lightweight run. I didn't even take a camera with me. Unheard of! Although a few miles in Mary gave me her miniature Canon camera which is very basic but tiny and as long as it's bright, it works well enough to take in scenery. The shot above - I am running backwards so she can take something other than my back - didn't come out because we were both moving. So when I went to take photos I'd generally stop. Making less shoogle.

The first half was a doddle. Nice modest chatting pace and the day was brightening as we went. I was pleased to be out running and particularly pleased with Mary's long-overdue return to running. I think if I had been faced with her ongoing problems I'd have chucked in the towel and done something else instead. I have had an ongoing sciatica issue (since April) and after one (pretty much unsuccessful) physio visit, gave up on trying to get it fixed and more or less just lived with it. Well not entirely true as I have been doing some exercises and a three- or four-times-daily bashing with the magic stick which is showing improvements, albeit at a glacial pace. Mary says she notices the difference between my stooping posture a few months back and my standing straighter these days. I did seem to have the same stoop my mother had in her 80s which is not a good thing.

When we reached the coast Mary's watch wasn't showing 6.5miles so we had to turn left and go along to the flagpole before heading back East towards Granton. The sun was out and everything was very jolly. I stopped to take photos and then would sprint to catch up with Mary. I noticed from the unimpressive max sprinting pace I must have been more tired than I felt. This was a sign I was unused to anything more than 5 miles continuous and probably was heading into crash-and-burn territory. For someone who used to run a 30 miler every month, it made me realise that indeed, times do change. And how quickly you lose the ability to run as you once did. 

Ice Cream for Crow
we did not have one! or even consider it!

Haha this is easy - look at me running and taking photos!

romance at Cramond

brave bathers

Somewhere along the bleak Granton Road the joy turned to grunt. That smile is not a reflection of how I was really feeling. Everything from this point on is beginning to properly hurt and I am only just holding on to the idea that soon we will be home for a nice cup of tea and maybe a lie down. Just up the cyclepath and McDonald Rd and we can stop this awful business! 

Mary is determined to do 13 miles. I had started my gps from leaving the house whereas M started hers after the warm-up half-mile walk, only when we began to run. This means she won't reach the half marathon distance if we go directly home. On other occasions I would say "your choice" and leave her to it. She knows the exact distances from home having done these routes many times in the distant past and knows we have to take an extended diversion to make the 13miles. Dammit. My body really objects to going one step further than necessary but this is a special occasion and I owe Mary far more than a "see you later"! I realise I have to go with her. We take the less direct cyclepath. It is not too bad and coming up the gradient of Pilrig Street refreshes legs tortured by the repetitive strain injury of flat road miles.

this should have been the end point but instead we ran up
and back down Leith Walk to get the necessary distance 😝

A milestone in Mary's return to running. And also mine. I have been neglecting running and although I still have ZERO plans to sign up for any races, I hope to get back to parkrun soon and maybe lose a few more pounds of flab along the way. This run was a good reminder that you can't assume the fitness you once had stays with you. The first 8 miles were fun though, and I should focus on that, rather than the last 3 which weren't. (Spoiler alert, the next half marathon run was considerably easier and prettier. Stay tuned!)

13.8 miles over 2.5hrs