Author: FosterRuns

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Relucdance

No, that’s not a typo, just poor word play 🙂

One of the challenges of the current remote-working zeitgeist is the potential growth of reluctance to venture out.

This was my feeling ahead of a barn dance last weekend and on one level I would happily have stayed home. However, the draw of seeing my best friends, en masse, won the day and I had a really fun evening.

Randomly flinging myself around is a good description of my normal dancing and it was nice to be on a dance floor where others had little more body control than me… and where that uncoordinated mess of misdirected human limbs was not just accepted, but was also being enjoyed! Oh my!… how we laughed!

A subsequent decrease in resting heart rate suggested that it was generally good for my health, although the exertion could easily have resulted in a heart attack, methinks!

Fast forward to this morning. Although I felt equally reluctant to go for a run, I had cleared the space around the running machine (yes, again, for those of you eagle-eyed readers who know that I did this only recently) and had just enough time to run and cool down before my meetings started at 9am.

A quick mile took just under 9:30 and I felt much better for it 🙂

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Spring morning

As normal, the more time that elapses from my previous run, the harder it is to get out to do the next one. But it was a beautiful spring morning and this just tipped the balance 🙂

The grass-cutters have been out (a mix of local authority and locals, I suspect, given the attention to detail) and the area really had that well-heeled look that I remember from the first time I came to look at the house, more than 15 years ago now.

I think that people in government must underestimate the power of the simple things that directly affect the people who they hope will vote for them. Long-term readers will know that grass verges are a subject that I often return to, but potholes are a particular challenge at the moment. There’s nothing quite like a daily commute along a third-world road, dodging potholes that would kill a tyre if you weren’t paying attention, to give people the impression that the quality of local services generally is falling.

Having not run fro four weeks, I took it really gently, especially as my knees were initially a little grumpy. Beyond this though my fitness wasn’t quite as bad as I had feared and I really enjoyed my run in the sun.

So, a little slower, but still okay, with two miles covered in 19.46 and a reasonably even split in the pace, despite the gradient in the first half.

Spring is definitely on the way 🙂

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Sunshine for the early runner

I had put the running machine down, ready for a run this morning, but I woke up super-early to a beautiful sunny day. It was chilly enough for longs and a long-sleeved top, but I only had shorts and t-shirt to hand so I went with that… albeit with hat & gloves!

It was lovely being outside, though there was a point on the hill where I had a slight memory lapse… I didn’t remember it being quite that steep (it’s not!).

The return leg was at that same 9.35 pace that I keep seeing on this stretch, but I must have got up the hill faster than normal (including that steep bit!) because the overall time for the almost 2-mile circuit was 19 minutes & 9 seconds, faster than I’ve completed it in months.

There’s already pervasive cloud cover across the sky so it seems that I really made the most of the sun this morning 🙂

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Warming up

I wasn’t super-enthusiastic about running this morning, but I had put the running machine ready last night and I couldn’t think of any compelling reasons not to get on it.

The feelings of coldness and stiff muscles soon evaporated when I started to run and my brain kicked in to dwell on some work challenges that I’m trying to solve.

One mile in just under ten minutes… and much warmer than when I started!

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Morning input

Those of you who know me will know that I like to read, especially in the morning at the start of the day, feeding my mind in the same way that a subsequent breakfast will feed my body.

This habit used to lapse each winter, when I prefer to sit in the emerging gloom rather than put any electric lights on. However, last year I inherited a Kindle and I have found this perfect for providing those few pages of insight in a backlit format. It’s also more discreet than the kind of chunky books I often read and doesn’t stand out in our pleasingly-minimalistic sitting room.

Later this week I’m running a workshop on Change to the wider Sussex Projects team and whilst I’ve already done the heavy lifting of designing the session and the slide deck, I do like to flip through the slides each day, in the run up to workshops, to ensure that I’m really familiar with the flow.

Reading before a run is always helpful to help my mind using the exercise time to assimilate and throw out new ideas, so this morning I chose to read my slide deck rather than the Kindle.

It was only a short 1-mile run on the machine before work, taking just under 9.5 minutes, but mind and body are now both ready for the rigours of the rest of the week 🙂

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Hidden in plain sight

We’re lucky enough to have an in-house running machine, which hides in plain sight in the thoroughfare between the open-plan dining and sitting rooms. Regular readers will know that I’ve not used it for a while, but recently it’s been out of bounds and surrounded by the flotsam & jetsam of life and the paraphernalia of our recent house guests.

Last weekend we finally managed to clear enough space for it to emerge from the background of my subconscious as the solution to a short-term problem.: I’ve not been getting enough exercise recently and I know that this eventually results in my brain working more slowly… something that I can’t afford to do right now with the pressures of my exciting new role.

Suffice to say that the machine was fired up early this morning and a short run ensued. Just one mile in just under 10 minutes, but I know that one run of this nature each week would tip the balance in favour of a clearer head. As per usual… watch this space 🙂

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More cold ears

After a second month of full-time employment (a shock in itself after working for myself for more than 20 years), a particularly busy period of juggling important work priorities and the departure of our amazing house guests who arrived at the start of December, I finally managed to find the head-space to get out for a run this morning.

I feel that running generally results in a lower resting heart rate, better quality of sleep, and clearer thinking, but an absence of running inexorably drives a feeling of lethargy, which makes it progressively harder to find the motivation to run

Add into this that I’ve been suffering a heavy cold for the past week and it’s always tricky to gauge whether the exercise will help or hinder its demise… or my demise!

The run itself was surprising. Despite another month of not running (and lately having been metaphorically tethered, motionless, to my desk for ten hours a day) running felt fairly easy. I started slow and didn’t push myself, but it turned out that I ran slightly quicker than my recent runs since the end of October. I was also faster on the way up the hill than on the way back down… I did notice that my legs ran out of a little steam towards the end.

So just under 2 miles in 19 minutes 21 seconds.

Oh, and I was wearing shorts, t-shirt, hat & gloves and whilst the rest of me was comfortable, oh my did I have cold ears!

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The Year of the Water Rabbit

With my recent move to an exciting, daunting and fully immersive role, I didn’t leave myself enough time for my usual Chinese New Year collaboration with Simon at Scoopsweb, so the design above is much more homegrown… certainly free-range 🙂

During this period of relative instability, I hope that we collectively manage to find the patience to think things through, before acting with compassion.

Wishing you good health, peace and prosperity in the Year of the Water Rabbit 🙂

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Celebratory run

Happy New Year!

Shortly after my birthday each year there is a slow process by which each of my treasured schoolfriends in turn becomes a year older than me, until I finally catch them all up again… ever the laggard! Actually, whilst it wasn’t always fun being the youngest in the year, now it’s a pretty cool gig!

The Bank Holiday in honour of my friend Squiffee’s birthday today dawned bright & sunny and I felt the need for a celebratory run.

The distance was only a token gesture, using the same circuit as my recent runs, but it was great to be outside (in shorts and a t-shirt) and thinking about my friends.

Bizarrely, whilst I’ve not run for more than a month I was reasonably quick on the outbound leg (for the recent me), whilst the return leg was exactly the same pace as my last three runs.

So 2 miles in 19 minutes 30 seconds and a great start to the New Year 🙂

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Steadily does it :-)

With three weeks since my last run, I decided that it was more important to take it steady today and enjoy myself… which I did!

Whilst it wasn’t so warm wearing shorts and a t-shirt, a weak sun was pushing through the greyness which, along with a hat and gloves, made the temperature bearable.

I focused on flowing along gently and had none of the heavy footedness that I was experiencing a few months ago. In fact, I could easily have run further… although I can’t deny that it was a relief to get back in the warm 🙂

So, a smidge over 2 miles (I ran to the door and the warmth behind it 🙂 in just under 20 minutes. That’s not as fast as the last couple of runs, but only on the outbound leg, running up the hill… on the way back I actually matched the pace of the last two runs, which is pretty amazing given that I thought I was taking it steady!

Life is about to change here to some extent with both a new role and house guests imminent. New constraints always help to shine a light on the old routines and drive creative thinking about new ways of doing things, making for both exciting and daunting times ahead 🙂

No pictures of the run today, but enclosing one of my Mum’s Jade plant / Money plant, which has suddenly decided to flower. This is a really rare event, so I’ll take it as a good sign 🙂