I have some catching up to do. I am now actually in Brisbane and tomorrow I have to switch into work mode so before we go and enjoy a NRL game this evening I thought I’d spend a bit of time catching up on the running we’ve done while on our adventures. Not that there is all that much running to talk about.
After Endure24 we next had a little jog out on the Tuesday after before we set off for the airport, then a whole week went by without running – some of it spent on a plane of course and much of it spent having an amazing time in a barrier reef cruise where instead we snorkelled and even tried a SCUBA dive, walked in the rainforest, found Nemo and hung out with sea turtles.
Once back in Cairns we did want to stretch our legs though and I was pleased to have dry non moving land under my feet again. I hadn’t really anticipated just how seasick I’d get – should have known really, I. And get motion sick standing still… Anyway, on Kath’s birthday morning we had a cup of tea and then headed out for a plod out along the water. It was a lovely morning and it felt good to be moving. We had a pelican cheer squad and could watch the sun come up and Cairns slowly waking up.
to just write about the successes and good runs or the ones where it went wrong and then we fixed it and it was ok. But when I started I said I’d share my running journey – all of it. The good and the bad so it’s time for a not so upbeat post. Today has so far just been frustrating.
cut grass and I think the pollen count must be high and then grass cutting will have disturbed lots of grass pollen in particular. It felt like I couldn’t get air into my lungs at all. I turned back. As I walked back the views were glorious and it made me smile and a little bit grumpy at the same time.
Ok well it wasn’t really a meander but I needed something with an M. I didn’t run yesterday and I felt a bit irritated by that but I have no reason to. It was the sensible thing. I was tired. In fact I slept for 2.5 hours in the afternoon. Anyway, today was one of those days where it could go either way. I was tired after work. I couldn’t really be bothered but I also wanted to get out today. I could have not bothered, it was tempting to postpone and run tomorrow. But I didn’t.
like and my brain doesn’t have a clue. My legs have occasionally run faster by accident but my brain just doesn’t know I can do that. My brain is more a 13 minute mile kind of a girl. I started to really feel it at 1.78 miles – but probably only because I had decided to run to 2 miles and then enjoy the towpath. I suspect that if I hadn’t decided that I could have gone further at a not too much slower pace. Anyway, the 2 mile beep came. Well within 12 minute pace. I was a bit stunned.
For those of you who don’t know what the #FinishForMatt title is all about, Matt Campbell collapsed at mile 22.5 of the London Marathon and died. Almost immediately after, the #FinishForMatt hashtag sprung up and people started running the 3.7 miles that were left of his marathon. I didn’t know him. I didn’t know that he was a chef or that he had appeared on TV, on Master Chef the Professionals, not until I saw the news stories anyway. In many ways he is nobody at all to me and it took me a little while to realise that his story was pulling at my heartstrings. It’s hard to explain.
anywhere near that. But as the week went on and I saw more posts, mainly from people in groups I am already part of my perception of what the hashtag means began to change. Sure, for some it’s a way to get social media attention but mostly it’s the running community coming together to honour and remember Matt Campbell, a runner, one of us. It’s about running because we can, for all those who can’t. It’s about not taking running, anything, for granted and to show solidarity to all those who knew him. So over the course of the last week I began to want to do it.
Marathon T-shirt because mine is in my gym bag at work and we set off – me in the (rather snug) finisher’s t-shirt and Kath in the #OneInAMillion T-shirt. I really wanted to run the 3.7 miles without a walk break. I did. Steadily but comfortably and easily. The run was quiet and I think we were both lost in our own thoughts most of the way. The different shades of green are coming out more and more strongly, the goslings seemed a bright lime green almost, the yellow on the ducklings we saw seemed to stand out and the squirrel on a gate post we passed seemed to bow it’s head in acknowledgement of the symbolic gesture of our efforts. I guess in the end it is meaningless really but today we did finish for Matt and for our own reasons and we didn’t take the run for granted, or our ability to move along the canal bank at pace or each other because although mostly silent, the run was definitely a together sort of run, in comfortable silence with just the odd words of encouragement. It’s alway always worth remembering that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, make today count.
really (not) a runner 