DIARY OF A RELUCTANT RUNNER
EVERY week, Maeve Quigley will be pulling on her trainers, breaking a sweat and inching ever closer to achieving her goal of being fit enough to run the Dublin VHI Women’s Mini Marathon on June 3. She will regularly track her progress in a searingly honest column about the aches, pains and inconvenience of making fitness her friend...
YOU often hear people say running gives you time to yourself to think. I can fully vouch for this now as I may have come up with an idea for Dragon’s Den. I am imagining some kind of running outfit that covers you from the head down, leaving only your eyes and hands visible until you reach the thigh area. After two weeks spent trying to avoid looking anyone in the eye while out for a run, I think it could catch on fast.
Week two of training has been all about pace and preparation. For the first minutes of your run it is tempting to sprint off; in fact it’s kind of what your subconscious tells you to do.
But when it comes down to it, you should be less like the hare and more like the tortoise in that fabled tale if you want to win the race. If you go at a pace that suits you, it’s more likely that you will get through the allotted time without collapsing.
One of the local dog walkers got quite a fright when I arrived behind him, panting and wheezing from overdoing it on the first leg of my first run last week. But I finally realised it is important to find the pace that’s right for you and, if you will pardon the pun, run with it.
Another thing I also discovered is that you cannot do everything. After one gin-soaked jog went all right, I was at a very delicious dinner in Ardmore’s Cliff House Hotel on Saturday. I didn’t have inordinate amounts of wine to drink and I got up early enough to put on my runners and hit the road, surrounded for once by gorgeous scenery.
Although the mind was willing, unfortunately the body told me to get over myself and that I’m not 20 years old any more. After a week of managing perfect three-minute runs at a time, I couldn’t get past one minute. I was trying to move my legs but they were like lead weights. Nothing was happening that would get me finished.
It was a lesson learned. I should have stayed in bed, got enough sleep and tried to do the run later in the evening, but at least I can see the error of my ways now. From here on in I will try to abstain from any drinks or late nights if I am due to run the next day.
The training plan says it is important to try not to skip a day and even though I’m only at the start of Week Three, I’ve already skipped one. I’m feeling guilty but the positive thing is I now know my limits. ÷ FOR a Week Two training plan see vhiwomensminimarathon.ie.