Injured

I've been letting things slip - eating and drinking too much, even allowing the rain to stop me going for my walk - but not then doing a Joe Wicks workout either. one of my excuses for not running has been the fear of injury - which shouldn't be a thing but it's part of my long list of excuses.

So imagine how pleased with myself I was this morning when I headed out for an actual run. It was awful: I have gone all weighty again, I am eating badly and too much etc etc. And I need new shoes, have I mentioned that before? And apart from a light shower of drizzle and the need to walk a little, I managed to negotiate the hills without stopping, I ran through nettles and brambles and along the rutted lane behind the allotments.

I was well pleased when I got home and stopped the mapmyrun and tripped over the step and went flying... twisted ankle, scraped knee and hand.  It's not exactly bad, but it's annoyed me. Hopefully it won't stop me walking tomorrow and running again at least once this week.

5.45km
6m 50s per km
I feel old, slow, weighty and hurty

Glowing

It's become a bit of a thing, coming back from my run and immediately sitting down and reviewing it.  And it's at this point where I realise that the genre-busting post I'd been drafting in my head had utterly disappeared from my mind. Sorry about that.

So, what I have is this: it was OK. Better than last time as I felt less like walking. Also it felt a bit easier getting out of the house. Will I ever go for a run during the day? - I don't know. It would make sense as then I have all day to decide as opposed to limiting my choice to first thing in the morning and then the opportunity is gone for the rest of the day.

The shops reopen on Monday - I could get some new running shoes then (I expect there will be spectacular queues)

5.31 km
6m 30s per km

Privilege

There is a lot happening today. Black Lives Matter, George Floyd, global pandemic, refugees, terrorism, extremism.

And I worry about the fact that I have bought unflattering running shorts and my belly wobbles as I run.

5.29km
6m 34s per km

It's an Age Thing

For a change, I was listening to some music - a mix from BBC Sounds  - but I'm just not getting it. I feel so old but there is some much saminess - same voices - the gravelly ones - the rappers - the singer-songwriter . The songs are all about love and sex

Then Lose it (Eminem) came on and I do have a bit of history with that - (after all it came out in 2004) and I remembered how you can get lost in music, how it can move you. 
I have a kind of locked box where I stuffed all my old angst-ridden teenage diaries - and recently found the key. When I read through some of them, I realised I was all about mad crushes, sex and music. But all the music I listened to was samey - rock, ska - then goth - they were the tribes we lived in and from the outside, they all sounded the same

Anyhoo:

5.25km
6m 31s

A run on the downs

- for the first time in ages.

Reasons I felt it was a struggle:
1. overweight (not losing weight by numbers, but I think I'm losing muscle as I'm not going to the gym, so I'm basically turning into an amorphous blob)
2. It was hot - again. This has been the sunniest May on record by miles. It's been amazing and has helped enormously in making the lockdown bearable.
3. Worn out shoes
4. General laziness from now being at work for so long

I actually had to walk for a short bit - I know most of it is psychological but I think it was probably the right thing to do as it helped me get round the rest of the lap not feeling like I wanted to stop again

But I think the real reason is this:
6.29km
average pace - wait for it - 6m 19s per km. Which means I was running like the wind for way further than 5km.