I'm ferociously hunting down and voraciously devouring running advice from friends, forums, magazine articles, blog posts and tweets. Distance training, improving speed, perfecting diet, kit and mind games.
I know when I watch the London marathon at the weekend my desire to do it, just the once, will not have gone. I thought I had eradicated these foolish thoughts last Sunday doing the Taunton half marathon. Every step of that journey I spent vowing never to take part again. Those thoughts are already in the past as I evaluate each step and blame lack of concentration, the week before's ups and downs of un-wellness and a complete lack of understanding of the need to refuel en route even though I am overweight and desire my body to use its own fat stores rather than eat the proffered jelly babies.
Lets study the facts and get the excuses out of the way.
Meniere's disease does make my immune system less efficient, fact. However, if I make other changes to my lifestyle I should be able to become healthier thus reducing the number of times, always when my running is going well that I end up having to completely stop for long enough to feel like I have to start all over again when I put my trainers back on.
I shall be 50 this summer. I am a grandmother. Age is no barrier, plenty of people way older than me run further, longer and faster than I dare to dream about. I wish I had run around the cross country field at school and I wish I had worked out why my knees were so painful when I tried to run as a young mum, but I didn't. Being a healthy and energetic Nanna has got to be a good role model for my grandaughter. I might even get my daughter in law to put her trainers back on and join me.
Heart disease, obesity and the dreaded C word. I have always battled with my forever appetite. It never goes away! Actually, that's not strictly true. I do have MD bouts whereby phases of constant nausea makes eating a bit of a problem. But, obesity, heart disease and bowel cancer is a serious issue from my family genes and this is primarily why I run. Burning those calories is my number one reason for tying my laces. I was supposed to have had a cholesterol check before Christmas but the results went awol and I've not been back to try again, I know I should but there's a big part of me that doesn't really want to know. If I find out and I have to make alterations that's just something else I can't be bothered to think about. And I haven't even mentioned my laziness yet! I'm happy to keep pounding the roads and keep my fingers crossed that my ticker and insides are in good health.
I know the diet rules inside out. Eat less, move more, simple. Except it isn't. I can have an iron will and I can also have no will at all. Finding the balance seems to elude me over and over again. I love food. I love everything from a £5 Macdonald's feast to a mega bucks five star extravaganza and just about everything in between and I indulge regularly. I'm not good however at planning my meals, shopping for them and cooking. I avoid gluten as it saps my energy and less energy makes me even more tardy in my food choices and so the spiral falls. But all those bread and pastry dishes are my first choice on the menu, even menus of my own making. And, time and time again I convince myself that just this one biscuit/sandwich/ready meal wont harm even though I now darn well that it will and does. Shopping for gluten free products couldn't be easier than it is now and I must get back into having my shopping delivered, if my alternatives are in the cupboard and I ask Mr B to stop bringing home the goodies he finds at yet another lovely little farm shop found on a breakdown recovery in the depths of the Somerset, I might stand a chance.
My name is Lyn and I am a socialnetworkaholic. I have lots of hobbies, running - obviously! Photography, food, travel, word games, crochet, reading, writing and connecting with the virtual world. Sadly, some of these are not getting a look in as my Mac and ipad have such strong magnetic pulls on them that invariably this is where I find myself. Oh and I can justify some of this lost time. See I only ever joined Twitter because of a work need and now I have yet another time wasting app that just needs checking every now and then. And, writing, that's a good hobby surely? I only ever started blogging because of work and now I have yet another time wasting app that just needs checking now and then. I'm so good at passing the blame I should have a medal for it.
To have one guardian angel in your life is quite special, to have a second is nothing short of miraculous. Nadine has very kindly offered to work out a running plan for me in order to help me move forward. I have read so much information with regards to all aspects of running that I am now in system overload and I can't see the wood for the trees. With Nadine's help and my aim to run with RFRC on as many Wednesday's as I possibly can hopefully that will make for a very good start to the new me.
Only I can control the food intake and I am going to start planning and return to having my shopping delivered to make sure I stay on track. Only I can control my social networking and I am going to cull the number of Twitterers and Facebookers I follow and set myself some rules. I am going to reinstate my other hobbies in my new found free time. Hopefully running will still be my number one choice and maybe some of my future Runnerduck blogs will be about increased speed.
No comments:
Post a Comment