Running for me is not just about excercise, losing weight, keeping toned. In fact, for me these things come secondary to something much more. My boy describes his thinking time perfectly, he says that he spends this time putting things in boxes... this is what I do when I run.
Yesterday was quite a stressful day in the world of me, I would go into detail, but like most places of work I have a social media policy I must adhere to. I was meant to be training with my rounders team, but I just wanted to go home and I just felt like running. I wanted to pick the day apart and put it away in boxes.
I got home and my boy was waiting at the station... which is always nice. I never expect him to be there, I never place any expectations on him, he is free to be his own independant being. It is important to me that he knows this, I often tell him that he does not have to be there, it's my choice to use public transport, why should he have to collect me and be affected by my choices... but he does and that's nice.
Now, I have mentioned Pete (my boy) in an earlier post. Pete 'should' also be in training as he is entered into the Grim Challenge, with me and his friend Felix on 7th December. So far Pete has not been running, but in fairness to him, he is suffering with a shoulder injury which may need operating on, so we shall not judge.
Anyway... I got home last night, got into my usual Lycra nonsense and decided to ask Pete if he would like to come, as it was only a short run. I was not expecting him to say yes, but he did... the lone wolf had the makings of a pack!
Off we went and at a pace that I am not used to.
The problem with being a lone runner is that it becomes very obvious to others when you join a team. When I did Tough Mudder, Darren (an ex marine) informed me of this. I would often sit at the back, running about 2 metres behind the pack and not pushing myself to pick up pace. As a lone runner I have found a pace and I stick to it, I can go for miles at that pace, but the pace does not faulter, it does not increase, I do not challenge myself.
This all became blindingly obvious last night, although Pete has not built up his distance yet, as a boy of 6ft3 he has a longer stride than me and is faster than me. During the run, that was less than half the distance of my usual run, I started to struggle.
This has made me think...
In order to keep up with the boys during the Grim Challenge, I will need to train with the boys! Building up distance has always been easy for me, but picking up pace is another matter. Hopefully by adding a couple of evening runs 'man style', I might be able to change this.
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