Dancing With Strangers

For a while now, well, a whole year to be exact, I’ve been doing as I please. I ditched my training diary last October and for the first time in 4 years, I have no record of what I’ve been doing. I’ve tried out different things, a bit of FFS, a bit of barefoot running, HR training, a daft cycling challenge, even a bit of swimming (which resembled an albatross trying to land on water)......all very enjoyable and I’ve been able to take positive things from all of them.

I’m nowhere near as fit as I was last Summer, am carrying extra weight, but I’m the healthiest I’ve been for ..well...since I began running again in ’07 after a few years lay off. It feels great. I can’t describe how fantastic it feels but ‘training’ is no longer a chore. If I don’t fancy it one day, I don’t. However, I’m disciplined and experienced enough to know that ‘not doing’ can become a habit and therefore make sure I exercise for at least 30mins every day just to raise the HR a bit.

If someone had told me last year that in 12 months I’d be truly happy with just 30mins exercise a day, I would’ve laughed in their face and told them it wouldn’t be worth the effort of changing into running kit for. It’s a relative thing though and one important thing I’ve learnt from my time out is to keep things in perspective and not to compare the me of now with the me of last year, because that would be daft.  

I’ve also learned that there’s a world of difference between being fit, and being healthy. Two words which are often lumped together and which are often mistaken for having the same meaning.  I’ve been fit, I’ve been healthy, I’ve also been fit and healthy. With hindsight, if I had to choose only one, I’d take healthy every time.  Saying that, I’m striving to be ‘fit and healthy’ again – why settle for chips when you can have fried egg with it too? :wink:

I’d love to be able to go out for 20 mile runs again, not because I love the pain of the ‘death march’, or because I’m some sort of masochist (is that the right word?), but because I just love the pure act of running. I always have. It’s what’s defined me for the last 30 years. It’s what I hope will define me for the next 30.

I can only run 40mins comfortably slow at the moment, but it doesn’t matter.  I can’t help but smile through most of my runs and I think for the first time in a long time, I get what it means to enjoy the here and now (Zen) of running rather than what it produces, or might produce next week, next month, next year.  That’s not to say in future I’ll become more structured again, but personally at the moment, it’s nice not having to have a purpose to each session other than sheer enjoyment. I don’t have to justify (to myself) why I did a fast mile in the middle of a run or why I threw in a tempo run one day, other than because I could, because I did, and because I wanted to.

I ran last night in torrential rain. The wind was howling and the trails were flooded making running up the hills in the mud and against the current of the temporary river (which the rain water had caused) quite a challenge. I saw 2 dog walkers. Both were dressed from head to toe in full waterproofs and the only visible part of their bodies were their faces. Both were bent double into the rain/wind. Both called me mad. Both looked miserable until I laughed out loud, agreed with them and did a dance in the ‘river’ as I ran by to confirm their suspicions. Couldn’t help myself.  I saw them again on the way back. Once again they called me mad, but were smiling this time, and once again I laughed and danced.

Then I came face to face with another runner. We exchanged knowing grins and when we met in the middle of the massive puddle which had flooded our path, we linked arms and did a bit of a jig. We didn’t speak, just guffawed at the silliness of ourselves and the situation.

The rain was running in a constant stream off my cap, my legs were covered in mud, my jacket was soaked right through and weighed twice as much as it usually does, and my shoes might’ve been drier had I waded out to sea.  But it was the best run I’ve had in months :D I felt free and alive, and at one with the elements.

Running is such a simple pleasure, yet it successfully managed to bond 4 strangers in a tiny village in a sleepy hollow of Scotland to ensure that despite the misery which the UK has found itself in over the last week, we could still smile, dance, and share a brief twinkling of joy in the pouring rain. 

That’s why I love running, more so in the rain....not to chase times, and not to win races, but to share the magic moments which unite people who wouldn’t ordinarily converse.