For me running is about stress relief. If I miss a run or a fitness class I get stressed on top of the stress that I wanted to rid in the first place. According to my trusty magazine, stress can lead to a reduction in the amount of weight loss or even result in weight gain! Imagine that you busted your balls (theoretically) every day for a month but because you were stressed over work etc you had a zero pound weight loss or even worse you gained (ooh la la!). It’s a catch 22 occasion, you run to de-stress and lose weight but because you run because your stressed you never lose weight (argh remind me why I do this again!). So the solution is to have a quick fix to stress relief yes? hmmmm food? ....
So, I started running with a gay friend of mine. I state that he is gay not because I want to show off that I have a gay friend, but because I would like to recommend them or actually him in particular. I never feel like he is judging me. I am a very sweaty runner (hence the chafing) and also I tend to run with my head hunched like Quasimodo (not a good technique I know!) so I'm not giving off an attractive vibe and he jogs on oblivious (at least I think he does). Despite having a better personal best (PB) without a running partner, I do find that having someone there to keep the pace or have words of encouragement can considerably improve your performance. Plus, the first 20 mins of our run is gossip filled and if I don't keep up I don't get the gossip.
After a few weeks of running he suggested we start going on an organised 5K park run, at 9am every Saturday in the city. So you’re thinking why??? Why would you get up at stupid o'clock to go for a run in the park? (which I have to add involves getting on a bus at 7.30am). I've got to say, I tend to think this when I wake up on a Saturday morning and I'm pouring hot water for my tea on my cereal (porridge for slow release energy). Addictions make you do silly things!
The first time we did the park run we arrived a few minutes late, which meant we had to peg it to the start line (by which point I was already pulling the Quasimodo pose). Annoyingly, they'd already set off but we just carried on running for the next 5K feeling a little disorientated and lacking a good warm up (excuses). However, I was happy with my first performance despite my porridge sitting comfortably at the top of my oesophagus. More importantly we were back home for 10.30am just in time for Saturday Kitchen.
The second session I did alone. It was this cities park run year anniversary, and so the regulars were wearing fancy dress; Scooby doo, giant presents, sparkly or highly fluorescent gear, super heroes and many more. This created a really nice atmosphere amongst the runners as though we were all part of some long running joke (no pun intended). Everything was fine until I was around 4K in and a bloody giant cake over took me! After the initial shock, I tried (very hard) to overtake but he was on it (like a car bonnet). The thing is it felt like a message from the running God…cake will always take over!
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