It is the time of year when it does not matter how much you do. It does not matter what you do. What matters is that you do something. And if you do not, then it is also the time of year to be kind to yourself about not doing it. Missing some runs in this period is totally fine and understandable. We are all busy, but as you will find out later on, I do have an imperative to keep running.
It can be hard to fit runs in at the best of times, far less just now when there can be many family activities going on, trying to catch up with friends who are home visiting for the festive period ,or just generally trying to find some time in the days off to just breathe and relax a bit. Rest is an under-rated facet of running fitness.
For me, I cannot say that I feel I have fully regained my running mojo which I mentioned in the last blog, but at least I have not felt under pressure to go and run. When I have run it has been because I have wanted to go out, sometimes on my own, but mostly with friends.
“a positive motivating factor”
It is the running with friends which undoubtedly has kept me going of late. That sense, even if one of you does not really fancy it, that not going out would let the other one down. It can be a positive motivating factor that is for sure, at a time when there can be few other incentives to run other than the thought that if you do not, then your fitness will diminish by the day.
In reality that is not going to happen, even if you miss a week or two, if you run regularly. Yes it will make it a bit harder when you get back to it, make the effort a bit more forceful in those initial miles back, but this is only a temporary phase and soon enough that missing fitness would quickly return. I recognise, for people starting out their running journey in particular, that missing a couple of weeks can make it feel like you are going right back to the start – and even a disincentive to actually returning to running – but if this is the case, I would urge anyone to just come back gently and persevere. No one ever said running would be easy – it is not – but the benefits are clear.
Let’s be honest, the weather has hardly helped. From the snow we got right before Christmas through to the totally crazy day we had when Storm Gerrit landed upon us, it has not exactly been conducive to lacing up the trainers and heading out. In fact, the snow we had on the Saturday before Christmas scuppered my plans for a longer run the day afterwards.
I had a long drive that day to pick up my mum and bring her up to our house for Christmas, and the weather was so foul – snow, sleet, rain and high winds all day – that I decided in the early evening not to go out for my longer run the following day. As it turned out, by the morning, most of the snow had disappeared and the run would have been entirely achievable, but I had made my choice and I still got out for a five kilometre run with a friend anyway. In the past, that kind of thing would have really annoyed me – and worried me because I would feel that I was missing out on an important part of any training programme – but I am a bit more sanguine about things now. That only comes with experience of course, and that is not something you can buy.
“runners are made when no one else is watching”
Experience brings you things like this. My calendar of running activities for the year from Strava. A year of another marathon, an ultra trail race, multiple half marathons and a few 10km races thrown in for good measure. But these are the peaks, what makes them possible is everything else. As someone wiser than me once said, runners are made when no one else is watching. And with a couple of days to go, I might yet reach 1250 miles for the year.
There have only been a couple of weeks when I have not run – due to injury – and it is this kind of consistency which I find is so important in my running. It is not about running massively quick or running massive distances, it is about turning up regularly. And yes, that even means just now when so many other factors come into play. But as I said earlier, the world is not coming to come to an end if a few runs go missing from the diary.
In terms of highlights, three stand out, and these are the images below. Getting a sub two hour half again in Inverness back in March, doing my first ultra trail race in tough circumstances at Bennachie in October, but the standout has to be my sixth marathon, back in April in Rotterdam.
The important thing here is not really the times I did the races in, it is simply the achievement of doing them that truly counts. I vividly remember the intensity of those closing miles in Rotterdam when everything was telling me to stop yet I fought through it to get to the end. The crazy atmosphere of the crowds through that time, spilling into the road, sometimes making it hard to see a path through as they cheered, roared the names of the runners as they approached, and high-fiving those taking part with one hand while they held a beer in the other. It was brilliant, bizarre and at times, overwhelming, but it got me through to that finishing straight in the Coolsingel and the joy of another marthon finish. And all of the races give me memories for a lifetime. So while I have been finding things challenging in recent weeks, these strong, positive memories give me strength to keep going.
“very wet and windy”
Keeping going has been what a number of my friends have been doing through December as they take part in the annual Marcothon to run every day in December. This year, I think like last, they have had every type of weather thrown at them but many are almost at the end now. I went out with my friend Susan, who is taking part, and her dog Scout, when Storm Gerrit was blasting its way through the North East of Scotland and it was a very wet and windy run, but all that mattered was that we got through it. Well that, and it gave me a chance to wear my XXXXL waterproof running jacket that I wrote about a few weeks back. It stood up to the test.
So this brings me to the final thing about this year of running, and it is about a choice I have to make. This weekend, entries open for the ultra marathon I am considering in March -the D33. I need to commit. I am going to commit. But I am so full of doubt and nerves about the challenge ahead. This is another occasion when I have to look back in order to look forward. To find strength in what I have achieved before in order to summon the desire to go through it all again and more. Missing a few runs at this time of year is not going to make much difference, but the next couple of months promise to be hard going. Let’s see if I am up to it this time around.