It was a perfect running evening, weather was perfect, no rain, no wind and great company. I was really, really ready for a run. But my first run I was in the lead.
Group 0
When I am leading group I am focused, making sure that every one is ok with the pace, and doing what they feel comfortable with. And believe me, sometimes that includes me going passed my comfort zone, and not stopping, even on hills! Yesterday saw the return of Clare and her friend, whose name has gone completely out of my head. Also there was Auriol and Wendy! A nice group of ladies.
The route was the Birchwood route, the shorter one. Even though I was in need of a run, I was tired, emotionally tired more than anything, and I thought if I was to manage group 1 then I needed to just take it easy now. Of course it's still challenging, what with the hill to get up. And because it is the shorter route I decided to do some warm up exercises first. It's what is needed in the winter, summertime it's not too bad, the runs are slightly longer and in the woods, which are all ups and downs!
Clare and her friend stayed in the front and Wendi and Ariol were behind me, I was leading from the middle, a perfect place! There wasn't that much space between the two pairs of ladies, and we were all fairly tight together. Clare and her friend, although not been running for ages, did really well. Wendi and Ariol kept up and kept going, taking only the walking or stopping breaks that I had planned.
Wendi brain is still wanting to do tons more than her what she is ready for, but for this run there was no problem. I was helping her get back to doing park runs, getting around the whole 5k route, but she has already done that! Not only that, she has 6 months to train to do the Brighton Marathon! See what I mean about her brain!! Still, she has a good foundation again now, and I know she will train with self preservation in mind!
Group 1
After group 0 I thought that maybe I had run myself out, but when I head that it was our clubs 8th birthday then I just knew I had to find the energy to run with the group. In fact I had convinced myself that it will do me more good than anything else.
And I did feel good, after saying goodbye to all the group 0 and saying hi to the rest of Petts Wood runners, I did feel my spirits lift a bit. SingstarJo was leading today, and she is getting over a cold or some sort of virus, so I knew that the pace will be perfect 'Old Girl' style pace! But it was the whole going down Cardiac Hill that just threw me a bit as I knew we would have to come up again somewhere!
Illustrious Leader was taking the sweepers position, all introductions of newbies done, and then we were on our way. There were about 15 or so in group 1 today, I nice number of runners, with SingstarJo in the lead we made our way. The pace turned out to be just perfect for me. Although I was at the back (nothing new then!) I was still well with in the group.
I started to release some stress, my shoulders started to relax a bit more, I stopped thinking about keeping up with the group, I stopped thinking about whether I will be too far behind and just emptied my mind. The trouble with me though, is my mind wont stay empty. I began to think about all that had happened yesterday, which then brought about other sad and painful memories. Memories that will never leave me, but ones that I can usually think about in the privacy of my own home!
Things that happened way back in 2007 had bought me to that very point, running along the road, keeping fit. Hard work, always battling to stay fit! Why? Was the question that ran through my mind, Why, when things can happen anyway! Even to the most fittest of people. I just stopped running, and sobbed, just for a few short seconds! But the stress of the day needed to come out, I just didn't expect it to come out just like that though!
Illustrious Leader noticed that I was a little way back and did a quick loop back for me, we caught up with the others who were having a catchup break. I said to I.L. that I would probably take the shorter route back to the rec, just in case those tears stopped me in my tracks again! As it happened one of the newbies wanted to do the shorter route as well and the three of us, me the newbie and I.L. ran with the pack until we got to the end of Beaumont road and then we made our way back to the rec from there.
It was a good run, and a good pace for me, and I still believe it done me more good than anything else.
Geeky stats.
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