Getting Old

So today I’ve had to come away with work for a couple of days and had planned to bring my running gear with me so that i could go for a little explore in the evening but given that our hotel is trapped between two dual carriageways, a main railway and a waste disposal company’s land (classy i know) i thought better of it. Instead I did the morning school run and set off straight from there glad to finally get going after being stood around in the bitter wind in running gear waiting for the school to open so that our excited son could go in and see his friends again.

Things got off to a slow start when before I’d even hit go on my watch i realised that i needed a wee so risked it and found a hidden bit behind a bush, desperate to not only water the plants but also not be seen by other parents with my tackle out near the gates of a primary school as that would just lead to some ‘interesting’ questions.

Finally the run got going, I’d planned on doing 10k but right from the off my legs felt tired. I’d spent the last two nights on the foam roller in agony trying to move the lactic acid that was pooled in my calves much to the annoyance of my wife.

This is a relatively new issue for me in that throughout my life I’ve been very lucky in terms of injuries but over the last 12-18 months I’ve found that my calves really struggle to recover unless i give them some attention hence the roller, the stretches, the compression socks, etc and i guess it’s just age catching up with me finally in this race called life.

Nevertheless i cracked on with the run having armed myself with a new album filled with nostalgic tracks from the 90s that I’d not listened to in years which gave my mind somewhere to drift off to, so much so that at a junction i took totally the wrong turn and found myself heading off somewhere completely different before getting myself back on track.

As the run progressed i realised that i wasn’t running at my usual 10k pace and so made a conscious effort to just stick at the slightly slower pace rather than risk upping the pace only to suffer an injury, etc later on. The issue with my calves has caused me to really start to listen to my body more than i used to and whilst there are times when I’ll just have to shout ‘shut up legs!’, there are also going to be times when i just have to be sensible and rest or do something different like a swim instead of a run, etc and this is a habit you can only teach yourself as nobody knows your body better than you.

I managed the run and just over 10k and made sure i did some stretches once i finished as the minute I walked through the door i was helping my wife clean the house before getting my stuff together to go to work. The world keeps turning and you’re just a little insignificant dot upon it but no one is going to live your life for you so try and enjoy it as best as you can.

P.s. as i type this my legs are aching like a good’un so it’ll be more stretches later, rest tomorrow and a recovery run the day after.

Laters.