Wednesday 4 April 2018

#493 A less lazy Sunday

Peckham Rye park really was perfect for running around. Any time, day or night, the silhouettes of between one and five joggers could be seen bobbing along on the horizon, on one of the park's three sides. Maybe not any time. Most times.

The friction between my thighs was new. I'd never experienced it in my twenties. Clearly I was getting fatter. Which was all the more reason to run. I'd barely been out this year. All the lectures and Barbican visits had taken up hours and hours. I wasn't about to start blaming the snow. That would be no more than a half-truth. In fact, it deserved its own paragraph.

NOTHING about the human body prevents it from running in the snow! Or the wind or rain or sun for that matter. The fact that anyone in the UK could dare to claim that it was too... anything... outside to go for a run is completely and utterly preposterous unless said person is in ill health or otherwise incapacitated.

Two runners overtook me. It was ok. Five years ago, I'd have chased and raced the cyclists along the side that ran parallel to the main road. Now I let them pass. The wire from my headphones dangled and flapped against my side as I slowly bounded up the path. 

A lap was just less than 5k. Three laps were 10k. That was what I told myself. If I was going to run just a lap, I must be unfit and would need encouragement, so I rounded it up. If I was going to run three, I felt good and was clearly in need of a challenge, so I rounded it down. Like an advanced feature of a running app. It had been seven years since I'd first run around Peckham Rye so I felt quite advanced myself. The setting was just the same though. Running round it grounded me. Travelling just that short distance around the park was like making a longer journey back through time.

4 comments

Fizzfan said...

I’ve been musing about going back in time to the days when I used to do things like keep fit. I was seriously into it all and had the best aerobics teacher in the world ever! His name was Chris and his classes were crammed.
It was his personality as much as the exercise routines and music. Warm, funny and appropriately flirty.
It was a huge part of my life during my 20s n early 30s and then I got married, had a baby and the world of fitness slowly drifted away.
I’m always a bit wistful about it because it’s so good for everything, not least mood lifting. All those lovely endorphins going YAY!

I’ve had the odd interlude over the last twenty years but now I’ve resigned it to when I retire.......(excuses, excuses!!!) :(

Oh and the amount of food I used to be able eat!.......Sigh. I actually tried to put weight on once and got fed up with eating. Can you imagine!!!............You haven’t cheered me up:(

I’m off to see the ‘family’ today.

Have a good un and looks to me like a good day for another run!:)

Profound Familiarity said...

OK have fun with the family.


What kind of music do you like? I ask because music really makes a difference to me when I run. I don't think I would have got into it otherwise. It becomes like dancing.

Fizzfan said...

Music? Really difficult to nail down because I like so many different types.
Ummmm, so I really like this kind of thing.......

Kongos - Walk Come With Me Now
X Ambassadors - Renegades
and......
One Republic - Love Runs Out
The Black Keys - Lonely Boy
but also.....
London Grammar - Strong
Royksopp - What Else Is There

How about you?

Profound Familiarity said...

Cool. I like some of these too.

I wake up to classical, work to chillhop, walk to drum n bass, run to trance, pine to rock.