City2Sea

Not a race for me, but my first long run.

Not having done the 14km distance since….ooh, April, I just wanted to get over the line in one piece, and, preferably, without walking.

I went out very conservatively, kept a lot in the tank. We were not meant to have iPods or anything, so I had to pay attention to my environment.

Some things that floated my boat:

• An older fellow singing at the top of his voice to his contraband iPod.
• The spectators, including some little kids, cheering us on.
• Some of the folks in dress ups (I saw 3 of the 4 teenage mutant ninja turtles)

At about the 7km mark, my feet were numb/burning – Luckily a loosening of the shoelaces did the trick.

There was only a bit of self-bashing talk at the halfway point, otherwise, I really enjoyed the run.

I went very conservatively until the 10km mark. I was feeling good, so I opened her up a bit, picked up the pace.

At the 12 km or so mark, I saw shells, who had rounded the corner about 500 metres ahead of me. She looked strong and smiley!

I finished up and headed into the city. Had some grill’d for lunch. Went home. Snoozed.

“Owning It”

I was on my own all today. Nobody to greet me after the run for lunch. My housemate has been out. Dinner on my own. Too tired to salsa.

I spent a fair bit of time on my own before all this. It was lonely then, but it is a new kind of loneliness now – one that cannot (and should not) be denied.

The tendency is to want to run away from it. After a weekend of things to do and people to see, it is time for a night on my own. Owning it. Facing up to it. Getting used to solitude. The scariest place of all can be in one’s own head.

It will all take a bit of getting used to.