Through The Fog

 

Visibility for Tuesday’s run was fine, as fine as it could be for an Autumnal evening anyway.  The ‘fog’ came from the way my head and legs felt.  Although I later discovered that I had ran 3.56 miles (clocked on my Garmin) at an average pace of 9:06 minutes-per-mile, at no point during the run did I feel comfortable.

It’s hard to describe exactly how I was feeling but I described it afterward as ‘like running after 11 miles of a half marathon’ and that is truly how I felt.  In case anyone is in doubt as to how I feel after 11 miles, the answer is tired and slightly woozy!  I started out intending to do a five-mile run but it quickly became clear that I was going to struggle to maintain any meaningful pace over that distance.  I curtailed the run to just over 3 and a half miles and just about maintained my speed along the route.

As fellow hayfever sufferers will be able to empathise, running around a meadow at this time of the year without previously taking your hayfever tablet is probably one of the more foolish decisions that you can make.  Add to that a lack of sleep from the night before and I really was asking for a poor run!

I generally have a rather uneven, but otherwise effective, breathing pattern.  Although everyone else seems to think that I breathe in a really odd rhythm, it seems to work for me.  Huffing and puffing replaced my usual breathing pattern adding to my heavy legs and tiredness, I wasn’t in the slightest bit amused.  I eventually arrived at the finishing point of my run feeling relieved that the experience was over and was glad of the warmth greeting me inside the Manchester Arndale.  Thank goodness it was over.  But, miles are miles as the saying goes and I’m glad I headed out on Tuesday night to complete my weekly dose of running with the Sweatshop Running Community, if only to justify that extra chocolate cookie…

My mile splits go to show that although you may feel awful, heavy legged and out of puff, you still have a chance of running a half decent time.  Get out there and get the miles done, you will feel better for it no matter how slowly you think you are going!  After runs like these, I’m grateful for my Garmin as it instantly reassures me that my run really can’t have been that bad, and the fact that I got through it must count for something, right?

Since Tuesday, I’m sorry to say that I haven’t been out for another run, instead opting for the dryness of the gym!  Having said that, I’ll be glad to venture back out to pound the pavements once more once the rain abates (yes, I am a bit of a fair weather runner!).

Until then though, cheers for reading and have a fantastic week, whether you run once or a number of times!