Virtue (I): Running Again

I rather fear this is the about the first time in at least the last 10 or 12 years that I haven't kicked off the New Year with a morning run on January 1st.

Oh, well - I went this morning instead; so the 'tradition' is more or less maintained. And after all, I did have a very late night on New Year's Eve this time (5am rather than 2am!).

We've had clear skies and low API since Sunday (well, the API's still in the high 50s - but that's as good as it gets in Beijing: that's 'fresh air' for us!); and the temperatures continue to be fairly mild, especially now that the arse-freezing winds out of the north-west that we'd been suffering for the early part of the week have slackened off. Ideal conditions today: there was bright sunshine, no windchill to speak of, and by late morning the air temperature had climbed several degrees above freezing. Almost too warm, in fact: the sweat top and gloves that I'd worn as a precaution proved somewhat unnecessary, and I was obliged to take off the gloves and roll up my sleeves to avoid overheating too much.

Not one of my more enjoyable runs, though. I think I'm still suffering the poisonous effects of last week's killer smog: my lungs feel as though they are full of fine splinters of glass. And I'm going down with a bitch of a cold, to boot (I had hoped that I might 'flush it out of the system' with a nice sweaty workout - it sometimes works; but not today....). And my left knee is once again falling apart, for no very good reason. I only managed one, very slow, circuit of the lakes today, and was limping and wheezing rather pitifully by the time I made it back to the apartment.

Well, I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised. I've had a bit of a long lay-off. I'm not sure that I went for a run at all in December. In fact, I doubt if I've been on one since I decided to cry off the Shanghai Marathon in mid-November. I felt really bad about having to drop out of that race, since one of my lovely Chinese friends down there had gone to considerable trouble to get me registered for it. However, the demands of my new job - particularly the frequent travelling - and the lousy weather and air quality we'd had through much of the autumn meant that I was badly behind with my training schedule, and I was worrying that I would have to step down to the half-distance event anyway. Moreover, I had been planning to use it as a staging post on the way to my company's annual conference in Macau the following week (and thereby claim at least three-quarters of the travel costs as business expenses); so, when I was abruptly cut from the list of conference attendees, that raised further doubts about the financial viability of the Shanghai trip. And then..... just when I might have been about to go ahead with it quixotically anyway..... I fell seriously ill for a couple of weeks.

Such are my excuses. Substantial, overwhelming though they are, I am still inclined to upbraid myself over this.

I note that this time last year, I set completing at least one marathon amongst my goals for the year ahead. The Xiamen Marathon in March I was (once more!) unable to register for (beautiful location, terrible organisation). The Great Wall Marathon in May I had to drop out of at the last minute because of a heel injury I just couldn't shake. And Beijing in October I wimped out of because it was the day after my birthday this year - and I thought I'd rather enjoy my birthday. Oh dear - NOT a good record. I must try harder this year!

I am aiming to get back into a daily running habit - now that I don't have the inconvenience of a regular job to impede me. Aiming to. I may have to wait a while, until I have recovered the ability to breathe.