I was to have been running the Great Wall Marathon last Saturday; but a couple of weeks ago I regretfully decided that I'd better pull out. I knew I just wasn't in shape for it this year (not for the full distance anyway; and, since these days I often run the half-distance or rather more in training, I no longer find Half Marathons a very interesting challenge).
Too much work (at the wrong times!), a succession of niggling injuries, and my unscheduled trip home in January have all cut into my usual running regime rather badly this year. And then I got a bitch of a cold last month, which hung around for the best part of three weeks, just at the time that my training for this event should have been peaking. Bugger, bugger, bugger.
I rather fear my new hobby/habit - this dratted blogging - has been getting in the way of regular runs too. I'm up at 6am or 7am most mornings, but lately I'm tending to noodle around on the Internet for an hour or so and write a couple of posts, rather than getting out on to the early morning streets and racking up 10 or 15 miles before it gets too hot. Something's got to give.
I'd really been looking forward to the Great Wall Marathon this year. I was fired up to better my performance of last time, to show what I was really capable of, to "get my revenge" on the course (last year I was going really well over the first 11 miles or so, but then developed a painful injury in my left knee; and - there apparently being no sweeper bus - I had to finish the course shuffling/limping/hopping on one leg). Having to wimp out this time has left me feeling wretchedly frustrated and depressed.
Well, the shortage of running itself in the past month or so has probably left me depressed. I generally hit a weird seasonal mood trough in April/May, and it seems to be particularly bad this year. Running usually helps to energize me, and clear the clouds and cobwebs out of my head; if I'm not able to do any for a while, things get very, very dark. Things are pretty damned dark with me at the moment.
So, I forced myself to go out for a couple of long runs this weekend, to try to get back in the habit..... and it appears I may have been overdoing things rather. Or perhaps I'm just getting old. Both knees and my left ankle are feeling worryingly crumbly, and I'm hobbling again. Bugger, bugger, bugger.
2 comments:
Sorry to hear it. Hope you're feeling better soon!
So you are the one who has given me the cold. I was thinking it must be someone I am in contact with, cos I certainly have not been out much and no one has visited.
Sorry to hear that, but if you don't feel you are ready and up to it, then you should be realistic as you are. Good luck next time you decide to do something similar.
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