#nosuchthingasabadrun
New post at ‘The Running Bug‘, ‘#nosuchthingasabadrun‘.
Given the ‘summer’ we have been experiencing of late, I am sure that many of you have found yourself in a similar position to the one that I was in this weekend past. I hadn’t actually intended to post again so soon, given that I only recently posted my ‘Lessons Learned‘ thoughts. However, something came to me over the weekend – read on!
I was fortunate enough to find myself back in the Cairngorms for the weekend but, along with the rest of the country, I found myself suitably challenged by the never ending rain!
My weekend runs were my first since completing the 95 mile West Highland Way Race back on Saturday 23rd/Sunday 24th June. On the plus side, the legs didn’t feel too bad. A little sluggish but nothing that couldn’t be run off. On the negative side, I was still suffering from the effects of the blistering picked up on the long 95 miles and, in particular, the remnants of a blister on the sole of my right foot, where old skin met new skin, leaving a particularly sensitive area – unfortunately for me, right on the point where my foot landed with each strike!
I woke in time for a 6am run on the Saturday morning and enjoyed a wet and hilly 10 miles, running an out and back towards Loch Einich and making it back in time for breakfast with the family. I don’t think the rain stopped for more than 30 minutes all day but we did not let this dampen our spirits (no pun intended) and we ended up on various walks in and around Aviemore.
I woke early again on Sunday, only this time it was quite different. Peeling back the curtains to reveal continued rain, I found my resolve wavering. It was all I could do not to return to bed. In fact, I have to admit, I did actually lie back down. I could quite easily have drifted back to sleep, something that I normally can’t do. However, the guilt of not making the best of my surroundings quickly got the better of me.
I might have been tired, it was definitely raining, it was definitely not inviting but – and this is a huge but – I was in the Cairngorms. How could I not make the most of the opportunity to get out and hit those trails!
I ended up running from Coylumbridge out towards Loch Einich again but, instead of following the route from the previous day, I took a right turn towards Loch an Eilein. 3 miles in to the run I arrived at Loch an Eilein and proceeded to run right around the Loch before returning to Coylumbridge by my approach route. One of the things that made that run for me was that I did the run ‘in reverse’. When I arrived at the Loch, I ran right instead of left as I always do on that route. On the return, in coming back along my approach route, I ran the approach in reverse, something that I have never done as I always take an alternative route back.
I arrived back in Coylumbridge some 9 miles later, totally soaked but completely exhilarated. The simple act of running part of the route in reverse made such a difference to how I felt.
How much poorer my day would have been had it not been for my morning run.
At this point it hit me. There really is no such thing as a bad run.
There may be runs that leave you feeling challenged. There may be runs that are really tough. There may be runs completed in inclement weather that leave you soaked to the skin. There may even be runs so challenging that they leave you questioning why you choose to run!
However, if you are anything like me, you will never regret going for a run. Indeed, the challenging runs are more often than not THE most rewarding ones and, as such, the feeling of satisfaction to be gained from these is often far higher!
This leads me to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a bad run and, with this in mind, I am asking you to join me on twitter in using the #nosuchthingasabadrun hash tag.
Lets hear about those runs. Lets see if we can get running AND get trending! Sod the weather. We could be waiting a really long time for summer if the recent weather is anything to go by.
So get out and run, and be sure to tweet about it!
If it takes off, I will include some of the tweets in forthcoming blog posts.
Happy running
