The sun shone brightly today, but it was bitterly cold with a 44mph north-westerly wind. Significant wind chill.
Running has made me weather-obsessed.
I procrastinated this morning with a lovely yoga session. And then, eventually, headed out into the cold morning air. I needed an easy 5K run today. To keep me going, I tried out a Nike Run Club run – the ‘Thank You Run’. This is a 45 minutes run, which was more than I needed, but I warmed up and down in the extra minutes.
I had a good run, in spite of the cold wind (or even – when the wind got behind me – because of it). I felt strong, and finished with more in the tank.
The commentary on the run was a bit cheesy – lots of being thankful – but today that worked for me. On a different day, I might have been driven to throw my phone at the wall. The coach popped up from time to time and promoted the listener to say thank you for something or other. One of the things he talked about was the people who helped to get us running. This one struck a chord with me. I thought about how I initially started to contemplate running, and the people who influenced me.
- About a year ago I began being more active (weighing nearly 19 stone) with Leslie Sansone’s walking workouts on YouTube. As I lost weight and became more active, I started to think about doing more. Thank you Leslie Sansone.
- Next, I heard various people on BBC Radio 2 talking about running, and about NHS England’s Couch to 5K programme. I started to think that this might be something I could do. Thank you BBC Radio 2 (and thank you to the people behind C25K).
- Then, just as I was ready to explore Couch to 5K, a local BBC radio presenter, BBC Radio Bristol’s Emma Britton, appeared on the local news running at a parkrun for charity, having just completed Couch to 5K. Emma talked about her feelings about running and how, at 18 stone, she had been afraid of hurting herself. It was as if she was talking about me. Except she’d just completed a 5K run and was clearly thrilled about it. I wanted that; I was inspired. Thank you Emma Britton.
- Finally, Jan, a wonderful woman who I met at Minehead parkrun has encouraged and inspired me. Thank you Jan.
Towards the end of the run, the Nike Run Club coach talked about being thankful for our favourite places to run. I love my village, and running in the lanes that surround the village. So as I took a warm down walk, I took some photos.
Enjoy your running.
#redjanuary
The Best Things in Life are Outside 
I remember running with the app called “Wings for life world run” where they had these “Story runs” where people tell their amazing stories. I’m not sure if it’s still there but it would be worth checking out. It keeps you SO MUCH ENGAGED during the run that you’ll forget you’re actually running (so don’t use it on highway) 😂
Other than that, it’s good to remind yourself of the gratitude which you did in a wonderful way 😍
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I’ll have a look for the app – sounds interesting. Thank you!
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