I took a bit of a break from blogging. I thought this might happen. Fifty days in and I was running out of things to say. How does anybody produce something new every day? Serious bloggers must be people who need to be heard, who need to externalise, something like that. I'm the opposite to that in general, so I eventually had to take a break. (Actually, I didn't consciously take a break, I just skipped a day, then another day, and so on...)
Anyway, for those who have been good enough to follow my progress, I present below an update on the last three weeks. It gets quite good towards the end. Enjoy!
Day 51 - Rest
Day 52 - Rest
My hours at work bumped up this week so there was less time to fit in the runs.
Day 53 - Rest
Still more.
Day 54 - Rest
And another. Feeling very rested by now. It's not a bad thing having an extended break every now and again. It gives your body a good chance to recuperate and, for me at least, renews my enthusiasm.
Day 55 - Rest
I actually had a day off here, but spent all day in London and then drove up to York in the evening. When I plan ahead for days like this I always imagine I'm going to get up at 5.30am and do an early run. When I wake up at 5.30am I usually change my mind.
Day 56 - Rest
Away visiting friends. I did take the kit. I always do. I rarely use it when I'm away.
Day 57 - Rest
It's not really rest any more. It's laziness.
Day 58 - 3.52 miles
At last! Back on the wagon. It felt good to be out running again, but I was disappointed to find that my calves seemed unhappy to be back on the road. I thought that with all the rest they'd be healed and fresh. But I think they were tight instead, reluctant to engage. Consequently the whole thing felt like hard work.
Day 59 - Rest
I realised I'd got out of the habit of exercising in between runs. I hadn't been stretching, massaging or doing step ups etc, and I'm sure that contributed to the tightness,
Day 60 - Rest
More self-massage.
Day 61 - 3.54 miles
Felt a bit better than last time. I did quite a lot on the grass today, which is much easier.
Day 62 - Rest
Day 62 - Rest
I was away in a very rainy Belfast this weekend with work, joining the bedraggled masses in a gathering to coincide with the G8 summit.
Day 63 - Rest
13 hours door to door, including an 8 hour ferry journey, and I'm home. Run or roast dinner?
Day 64 - 4.24 miles
This run was great! I did the first 1.5 miles on the roads, then arrived at the field and ran the rest in bare feet. I stayed at a steady 7 min/mile. There's something special about running with your feet literally bare, and that feeling is enough to make you run a bit faster.
Day 65 - Rest
Day 66 - Rest
Day 67 - Rest
You're beginning to see why I haven't been blogging for a while. There's very little to report from all these rest days...
Day 68 - 4.28 miles
A steady run, not trying to go to fast. The worrying thing was that by the end I could feel pain located exactly where I was injured last year. Where the calf an Achilles meet. Not good news. I couldn't tell if it was the actually injury feeling, or the phantom pain that seems to come on from time to time. My running shrapnel round, that just makes itself known on occasions. Still, I came home and stretched and iced and generally walked around gingerly.
Day 69 - Rest
The good news is that I couldn't feel yesterday's pain at all. Very good news. I did some more exercises and stretches, and generally alarmed the people I was with by massaging my leg at every opportunity.
Day 70 - 6.05 miles
Breakthrough! A genuine breakthrough. I wasn't planning to run this far. I wasn't even sure I would run more than a couple of miles after the previous run. Early on I could feel tightness, so I stopped and stretched a few times. It felt much like every other run and I wondered when, if at all, I was going to be able to run without any discomfort. During one of those stretches my father-in-law cycled past and I got feeling of runner-shame that you get when someone spots you in all your gear and you're walking, or standing still. You want to shout out, "It's part of my training schedule! I'm supposed to be doing this! I do normally run!"
Then something happened. I can't explain exactly how, or why, but when I pressed resume on my Garmin and set off down the road I felt like a normal runner again. I felt like someone who could just pick his route and run it. That's what I always used to do. So I did. I set off down a woodland path and enjoyed myself. Dodging stones keeps one very busy in barefoot shoes, so I barely noticed the miles ticking by. When I arrived home I had gone over 6 miles! I couldn't believe it. And it didn't hurt at all.
Day 71 - Rest
Felt good. And slightly elated.
Day 72 - 5.16 miles
For the first time since I started this 73 days ago, I ran a completely normal run. My shoes, which are barely worthy of the name considering how thin and light they are, feel like normal shoes now. To me they have plenty of cushioning. I'm finding it hard to remember now what my old shoes used to feel like. How can you need more than this on your feet? Running on pavements (which generally are the least forgiving of surfaces) feels fine, comfortable, normal. Is this it? Have I done it? Am I a barefoot runner?
Day 73 - Rest
And generally telling everyone about my breakthrough. Probably worth a blog, I thought to myself...
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