I'm back!

Well, kind of... If you can call 0.94 miles 'a run' then, yes, I'm back...
:-)

5 minutes

I ran for 5 minutes on the treadmill this morning. It felt good. My foot still has a small lump which I think could turn against me again so I'm not going to push this recovery. I reckon if I do 5 minutes on the treadmill every time I go to the gym, then this will strengthen my foot and all that goes with it and I will be back before long
The long road to running starts here.
Again.

fingers crossed...

My foot's stopped hurting today. I just noticed this morning that I hadn't winced
:-D

Limp

Well, I'm still not back running, but I think it'll be soon...
I am getting very bored of being in pain with every step. Sometimes it hurts when I take the weight off it (barefoot, especially) and sometimes it just kicks in during a step. It's better in birkenstocks.
Thing is, to avoid the pain of walking I have to use my hurty big toe more.
I feel life is not being fair at the moment.
Oh I know there are far worse things that could happen, but when I try and do everything right and I still end up injured I feel unhappy.

enough is enough

It's now 18 days since it started hurting and it's still hurting. Oh, to be honest, on some days the pain is a different sort, in a different place, but it's still a pain...
The physio got my foot back on straight so I can now put it flat down on the ground. But  I think that might have increased the irritation on the nerve or something. And now there are shooting pains going into my ankle.
I've booked into the doctors this afternoon so perhaps they might be able to shed some light on it. Perhaps they will tell me to get the weight off it for a few days - that'll be interesting. Anti-inflammatories, that sort of thing.
Hey ho. I think I'm fairly confident it's not a stress fracture.
And that's the good news...

16 days later...

...and the pain is still there
I'm going to see the physio in an hour or so, but that's not going to cure it. Hopefully it'll straighten me out enough to stop it happening again and I can resume running with confidence...
In the meantime it's bloody painful. I keep thinking it's worn off then I walk funny on it and it's off again. I would be very happy for it not to hurt at all for a while...

emotional level: glum

Good news, bad news

Good news -  I ran more than 5 miles this morning...
5.18 miles at 9m35s a mile. Happy with those numbers

Bad news - I have hurt my foot. I feel it might be serious in the sense that it could stop me running in the future. I have hallux rigidus in my right big toe joint. It's painful - very painful - at times but until now it hasn't affected my running.
I think there is a combination of factors here - one is the big toe joint not working well. This forces me to run a little on the side of my right foot which obviously puts a strain on other bones and joints. Not good. Also my shoes are a bit rubbish - they have lost their grip (I can believe it's the way I'm running which makes my feet slip on the road...) also I have quite sweaty feet these days and with no socks on my feet are sliding around a bit. I guess when I feel brave enough to run again I'll try socks and see if that solves the problem (s)

I feel very unhappy about this. If it is enough to stop me running I will feel crap. I live with runners and they are gleeful about running further, faster, more heroically and I feel really pissed off with them. I am never going to be in their league obviously but if I can't even keep going for myself then it's going to take a lot of adjustment on my part.
I am angry.

A first

This morning I broke all expectations and went to the gym - then went for a run.
It makes perfect sense of course - while I'm off work for a while, I need to keep up with the fitness - and actually spend more time on getting fitter. So I cycles up to the top of blackboy hill and my lovely gym, then ran round the downs and cycled home. And it wasn't as awful as I thought it might have been...  It was hard work and I had to walk up the cross-country section, but apart from that - this is how it panned out:

4.63 miles in 44m29s
which is a less than impressive 9min 35secs a mile.

Good enough for an overweight middle-aged trout?

Get me!

I have just run at lunchtime at work. Blooming amazing.

It took 70 mins from desk to desk which is ok - there is no excuse not to make it a regular thing, frankly.

Stats: well, the first one which came up in the headphones was for a 9'07" mile which reflects the fact it's pretty flat at the start. But I did the cross country bit and the hill just defeated me: I actually had to walk for a while.
So overall I did 3.02 miles at 9'28" a mile - so not too shabby really.
And I'm just really pleased that I made the effort - OK it's alovely day and I'm sure if it was raining I would not have gone. And it is such a kerfuffle getting changed, cycling up there, running, shower remembering keys - headphones - phone etc etc - but I expect it's done me a power of good.

What have I done?

It's kind of the opposite of unleashing a monster - I've tamed a placid lamb...

Running yesterday in the beautiful clear crisp morning sunshine was the nearest it gets to being a pleasure. (Note to self - I need a different route: even though the daffs are coming out I feel I have done that run so many times...)

Stats, though, don't make for happy reading
4.3 miles
9min 47 a mile

9 mins 47 seconds to run a mile - quite the slowest I've been for a while.
Excuses: the day before we'd spent in London walking. Walking for miles and miles. In shoes with paper-thin soles (shoes are now in recyling - much as I like them they've had their chips) So my feet were none too great and my feet are my achiles heel (you see what I did there...)

I am definitely going slower and slower. At this rate the 10k will take me... (pause to calculate...) over an hour. That's poor. Last time I did it was under 56 mins. surely I can aim to go that fast this time?
Or is it the taking part, the fact I'm a fatty old bird doing it, enough?

I don't know.

I do know I hate this ageing thing cos everything you thought of as being anything like permanent turns out to be anything but...

A new approach

I have decided I can't pretend to be a runner. I am a jogger. My natural pace is about 9'30" a mile and I should be happy with that. When I try and push myself is when I get blisters and worse. So I am going to be happy with my natural pace and take the benefit from going at that speed. If I get faster along the way then that's fine. What I want to avoid is the feeling that I'm failing if I can't run as fast as my v fit boyf or 18 year old stepdaughter. Not going to happen.

stats then...
4.27 miles
41m 18s
9m 40s a mile. Slow. But I did it (and I still have aching calves so I'm glad I didn't push it any more)

Whether this new approach will continue I have no idea, but I think I will be happier if I run this sort of thing 3 times a week. And by doing that I guess I will be faster.

It's a start...

4.32 miles
9.25mins/mile
40.42 mins

It's been really terrible weather recently but I managed to avoid a massive deluge by about 5 mins :D

Is it cos I am so unfit that I struggle with energy for these runs? There comes a point about 30 mins in when I just run out of puff. I even had a bit of breakfast this morning so it's not that. And one of the main reasons for running is to lose weight so I wouldn't be happy to up the calories when I only used 444 this morning.
How annoying is it that running uses about 100 calories a mile... You would have thought it would have been a lot more than that.
But no.

But hey ho - I have been for a run and it didn't kill me. Perhaps it truly is a start and this is where I train up to a regular 5 mile circuit and then for the 10k in May. I would really like to do that in under an hour and ideally under 55 mins which was how long I took to run the last one. It will help if I've lost a bit of weight by then of course but I guess the best training is just to get keep going out there and running.

pushing it now...

Well, at least it was a run. It's been a long time since the last one so I went for it a bit. It was a nice morning - cold but really sunny. Perfect.

stats - 4.45 miles in 40mins 37 secs
9mins 07secs a mile - pretty good for me

So the big question in my mind anyway is - can I get to do 5 miles in 45 mins? On paper perhaps I could. Perhaps I am kidding myself.

I thought this was supposed to get easier...

3.8 miles at 9mins 11 a mile.

Not a bad pace but bloody hell it was tough. I know I've put on weight and it's really taking its toll.
I need to get out 2 or 3 times a week for any improvement to be made (but it's soooo cold out there I find it hard to get motivated)
I also have to believe that it's doing me good. I have a feeling that it's not helping me at all - not to lose weight cos I don't run enough plus there is the issue of injuries which I'm getting quite paranoid about...
I guess I just need to get over myself and get on with it. It's hard work, of course it is, but once I get up to a comfortable 5 miles at that pace I can begin to bed it into my regime. (why I can't do that NOW I have no idea)

Wheelspin

I finally made it out onto the tough streets of St Andrews - only to find them covered in a thin layer of frost. It was a lovely morning and the chilliness was quite nice - but it was really hard going. I was tiptoeing around and kept losing my footing.
But I made it! With possibly the least impressive stats for a very long time.
It's quite remarkable the difference it makes going slowly - it feels much easier...

Stats:
3.6 miles
36 mins
I reckon that's 10 mins a mile...

So at least I have ended the year with a run. And I have kind of promised I will run on New Year's Day. It's the start of a year dedicated to running and getting fit.
Possibly.

ow ow ow ow ow

3.92 miles
35min 17
8.59 mins/mile

so, yay, I have cracked the 9 mins a mile thing - but at what cost? there is the usual feeling of achiness - but also I have lost the top layer of my right little toe to a huge blister. Not happy. Perhaps I should think about socks. Except I need larger shoes...
First world problem.

Ow

Calf pain in 3 - 2 - 1...
Tomorow is going to be painful. But it's good to believe I can do the 30-odd minute run without excuses.

3.87 miles
35.25 mins
9.09 min/mile - i guess that's 9mins 9secs...

wow -  I can do almost 9 mins a mile - which leads me to believe I may one day do the 5 in 45..

Is this the dawning of a new era?

I went for a run yesterday. There was no fanfare, no bunting, just me, the road and a chill wind.

I ran a reasonable distance in a reasonable time and today I feel my calfs are aching but nothing too bad - no achilles pain, no broken metatarsals, no blisters.

Obviously this means I'm not trying hard enough, but in my book it means I have no excuse not to start running regularly and trying for my arbitrary target of 5 miles in 45 minutes.

stats
3.81 miles
34' 40"
9m 06" a mile

I do hope this GPS is accurate as I seem to be getting faster according to it, but I don't feel like I'm running any faster.

I also must get something other than podcasted radio plays to listen to... although I have a fear of running out of things to listen to and suddenly I have to concentrate on the running...

Whitstable

Yay
I like running next to the sea. It was cold, windy and wonderful. I'm sure if I was there all the time it would pall eventually but for the few times I get to run there I love it.
I was inspired by G saying if I didn't take my kit I had to accept it and not regret - but if I did take it I had to run no matter what. Luckily it was a fantastic morning and off I went.

stats (cos I was running with the app)
3.49 miles
32m 6 secs
9min 12 a mile. (seems very fast but who am I to argue with technology.) (It was also so cold perhaps I went faster to stop from freezing)

treadmill twenty

Nifty title, huh.

I did a 20-minute on the treadmill and went, I think, 2.45km. Not exciting but the longest run I've done in a while.
This weekend I'm off to see chums in Whitstable so there is the prospect of a run along the seafront. I am a bit nervous about it considering the lack of practice I've been having recently - but I should never pass up the opportunity to run alongside the sea. 30 mins, that's all...