steveslaw

We interrupt your normal travel updates to bring you some other ramblings.

 

As the title may suggest, this post is about running.

 

So, I once loved running. And I tell myself I still do though I never used to. Until the age of 36 I had never run a 10k. I then did one with a few friends will only a couple of weeks training. However, I still wasn’t sold on it.

 

Then another friend convinced me to sign up for the 2010 London Marathon, to which I initially laughed (loudly) but the seed took hold and I eventually agreed. In the 6 months of training I did for it I got hooked. I loved running for how it made me feel; fitter, healthier, awake and focused. I also loved that it meant I spent less time in from of the telly and I also started to be more active in other areas of my life.

 

I ran the Marathon in 5:18. My target had been 4:45 but that ‘wall’ knocked me for 6. But I did it and I felt great! To this day it’s one of the toughest things I have done and the hardest I have ever trained for anything.

 

But since the Marathon running and me have been distance friends. Perhaps I’ve run 5k 15 times in the three years since, however I still say I love running and I am POSITIVE I will indeed one day return to running the weekly 10ks that I once came to love. (I think 10k is a perfect distance for an evening run).

 

I’m not sure why I stopped running. I told myself that the Marathon ‘broke me’ mentally I when ever I tried to run again it just did ‘feel’ right, no matter how much I wanted to run.

 

Skip forward to now and I’ve been travelling in Central and South America for the last 8 months and I brought with me my running gear with the aim of doing a 5k in every country. Easy myself back into it whilst away. Alas that hasn’t happened. I am a sucker for comfort running. I don’t like not knowing where I am running to, what the surfaces are like, or if there are any massive hills to tackle. Before today I had only ran three times.

 

However, today the near perfect conditions for a run were presented to me. We are staying on the shores of Lake Titicaca and there is a fairly even path out of the town around the edge of the lake. It’s warm, but not to hot, there is a gentle breeze blowing in off the lake and the scenery is gorgeous. The only down side; we are at 3800 meters above sea level.

 

But I did it. I got changed, put on my garmin, did some stretches and started running.

 

The view along the lake (from about half way)

The view back to town.

There are two things to learn from this story and all the above ramblings is a prelude to these.

 

Firstly; running at attitude is a bitch. I had to break 8 times over 5k to catch my breath and each time that voice in my head tried to convince me to stop; don’t do this, it’s too hard. Walk back now. Give up. You’ll kill yourself etc etc.

 

Secondly; I just need to stop listening to that voice. Who cares if there are hills. Who cares if I have to stop to catch my breath. Who cares if the run is not as long as I would like. The point is to GET OUT AND DO IT and to CARRY ON DOING IT.

 

I remember struggling with this in my marathon training when trying to break past the 6k barrier and head towards 10k. That voice of mine would always try to discourage me but I had to ignore it. I had to just keep going. Why or how I forgot this I don’t know – it was a pivitol moment in running for me.

 

So whilst the first lesson is one to be aware of; the second one is much more important.

 

DONT GIVE UP.

A LITTLE IS BETTER THAN NONE.

GETTING OUT THE DOOR IS THE HARD PART.

 

From now on; more running.