Tag: funwhilstrunning

Quotes for life, love and laughter…

I collect quotes. Almost every day, something, somewhere gives me an aha moment and I keep them for days when I may need them. Sometimes these quotes are inspirational, humorous, or they just let you know that you are not the only human feeling the way you do. It’s just a human condition. You are not alone in this, whatever it is.

So today, I wanted to share some of my favourites in the hope that some of them will strike a note with you too.

So here goes:—-

On the subject of life:-

 

   

On the subject of running or just taking action, these ones I love.  I came across a gentleman called Alistair Jones on Twitter who writes poetry.  His poems are witty,  encouraging, fun and always a delight.  He has kindly allowed me to include a couple here.

 

And then just for fun, these one always made me smile:-

Have a great week everyone.  Hope it’s a good one for you and yours.

Until soon.  Be happy.

 

5 Ways to occupy your mind whilst running.

 

When I first took the road my inner voice would pop up; how much longer; are we there yet; I am feeling tired; can we stop soon.   It drove me to distraction and it didn’t need a psychologist to tell me that wasn’t useful. I needed to come up with a better plan, and to distract my mind.
I started to talk to experienced runners about what they did and discovered that they were probably further down the road than I was in controlling their thoughts. The big advantage they have is that running is second nature to them, whereas I was just learning and it was hard, and therefore needed a different strategy.

1. Listening to new music.
I choose a playlist on Spotify with a beat i.e. 150-165bpm, but choose music I had never heard before and set myself the challenge to listen and decipher every word. Its tricky, particularly listening to hip hop (so not my kind of music) but also fun. Fun is good.

2. Choose a different path
As I am using the 5KPro app, and someone is telling me when to walk and when to run, I don’t need to plan my distance. I just go in different directions, sometimes drive somewhere and start from a new location. Just something different to look at. I find it helps to distract my mind.

3. I make up a story about the people I run past. If they’re walking with someone I invent relationships and conversations they are having. I do find this very distracting and also amuses me continually.

4. If I am having trouble making all of the above stick, I challenge myself to mathematical problems. For example, if I keep running at the speed I am, in 4 minutes I would have covered what distance, or if I increase my speed by a X how would that distance vary, or how long would I then take to finish. etc. etc. This usually drives me crazy but has great distracting benefits.

5. I find listening to my breathing works sometimes. I try and breathe to the rhythm created by my feet. Equal measure in and out. When this works for me it is actually incredibly pleasant and relaxing. One of these days it is going to work all the time.

Would love to hear what you do.
Enjoy your running. Until next time.

I LOVE technology

I love technology. I love all gizmos and widgets and “what is that thing for” gadgets.
I get completely immersed in stats and results and the information provided after any kind of activity with the apps and gadgets I have. I simply love it and I think it is helping my journey in a big way.

For starters I have a Garmin tracker which tracks steps, activities, heart rate and some other cool stuff and also tells me the time which is pretty useful. I have my tracker linked to the Garmin Connect app, and so as soon as I record any kind of activity be it a walk or a run or a fitness session of any description, I sync it all and then go looking at how I did.

Before I run, I turn the activity monitoring on my Garmin, and make sure that it is doing it’s thing. I also use ‘Mapmyrun’ app which records my run and provides me with a cool map at the end so that gets turned on next. I have been using 5K Pro app I mentioned some posts ago and is helping me to run from small beginning to 5km, so that gets turned on. Last of all my music gets turned on, a playlist with a beat and off I go.

The funny thing which does make me smile during all of this, is that these apps talk to you. My 5K Pro app gives me inspirational messages about how well I am doing, and tells me when to walk and when to run. ‘Mapmyrun’ app tells me whenever I have travelled for 1km and gives me some data on that last distance, my playlist is doing it’s thing, so all in all, there is a lot going on.

When I finish, I sync, and then pour over all the stats.  Heart rate is a biggie for me, I really want to know whether I worked hard or whether it was all in my head, love all the data as to how long, how high, what effort, speed etc. etc.  I have read other runners say they have thrown out all technology as it was doing their head in.  I think they must be competing against previous times and distance etc.  I am seriously not at that stage.  Just happy to get it done and all these kind of things help, so will continue to use them and have fun with them.

Enjoy your run.

 

 

What makes a runner? ……

Whenever I think of runners, pictures come to mind of lithe slim athletic looking people bounding down the road or on a track, they have long strides, and seem to run effortlessly and gracefully towards their goal.

They look like they were born being able to run. Their balance seems to come from a place within, and I find myself trying to work out how they do that.  How do they know.?

And then I started to think, what makes a runner.  At what point can you call yourself a runner? If you run for 5 minutes, does that make you a runner, or even if you start to train to be a runner, can you define yourself as a runner.?  Perhaps it’s based on distance, if you can run for 20 minutes you can call yourself a runner.

Usain Bolt is a runner, no doubt about it, an amazing runner, the words best over his preferred distance, we can all agree.  So what about the girl who comes home after work and happily pulls on a pair of trainers and runs 5km every night.  She’s a runner. She clearly loves it, looks forward to it, and runs often.  What about the weekend warrior?  Someone who keeps their run for the weekend and goes for a jog, loves it and feels wonderful when it is over.  Surely they are a runner.

What about body types.  Should you be smaller and very light to be a long distance runner such as one sees at the Olympics, and therefore not attempt long distance if you are taller and heavier built. What about not being so lean, should we all go on big diets to lose weight in order for us to become runners.

Where does that leave you and me.  Those of us just starting out.  We’d like to be runners.  We can visualize running some distance and loving it, moving down the road, the wind in our hair, our feet moving under us freely and lightly, smiling at other runners as we pass each other. The fact that I am right now finding the whole thing difficult and puzzling, and that its hard, and that before I go for a run I have to really psyche myself up for it, and tell myself I can do it, is beside the point. I have decided I am a runner, and whilst not a very good one –  yet – that’s how I want to think of myself, and so should you.

Hello world!

How did I get to this place?

I am just over 60 years old, have some time for me, and have a yearning to do something big physically which is challenging and difficult and something I have never done before.  I have decided there may be a runner in me.

I want to connect with all of you who are feeling the same way, so that we can support each other, talk about highs and lows, and maybe meet up in a big running event somewhere around the planet and do it together.

Blogging is something I have seen others do, but never something I have attempted myself.  It’s a bit daunting.  But then so is running.

My story so far is that I have been doing a ton of walking, up hills and down dales, trying to get a bit fitter.

I downloaded a running app, one of those that takes you from nothing to running 5K and it’s going OK.  Some days I feel like an elephant charging down the road, as it feels heavy and thunderous and uncoordinated.  For the first time last Sunday it actually felt like I was enjoying it, and I thought  “yes, I’ve got it, this is how it is meant to feel” but then yesterday I was back to feeling heavy.

I read runner’s stories and they seem to just love it.  They can’t wait for their next run, and even when they have a bad run, the next one is going to be the one.  They talk about feeling at one, being at peace, loving the road and the journey.  This is how I want to be and feel.

OK, so for those of you out there, wanting to do the same, thinking you can take this on and become a runner, come and join me, lets do it together.