This week so far, it’s taking all I have to keep my classes lively, remember my husband’s name when I get home, and try to stay awake until 9 p.m., which seems the earliest possible bedtime if I want to retain my claim to adulthood.
The fatigue may have something to do with the 32 kilometres I ran on Saturday. . . .
But oh, it was a lovely run, and it felt so good to complete it — and to be able to walk the next day with very little stiffness. I’m feeling as if this marathon thing might be a real possibility.
Through the fatigue, I’m remembering various aspects of a great weekend and I’m putting together a Five Things Friday to feature some of them. Meanwhile, though, a couple of photos of scenes from my Saturday run.
Above, an electrical box has been graffitied with the message: “This doesn’t look as cool in real life.” I appreciated having something to ponder and chuckle over at about 7 kilometres in. . . . that gap between the idea and its realization can be wide, no?
But this idea, I think, is at least as cool in real life as it would have been in the head of the artist who put it into play. You can perhaps just see that there’s an extra red umbrella available, furled up, on the bench in the photo. When I ran past the first time at about 8:00 (at about 14 or 15 kilometres), there were few of us to admire it. On the way back, perhaps half an hour later, folks had unfurled that extra umbrella to use as a prop in a photo op featuring Vancouver’s beautiful North Shore Mountains. What a way to brighten a grey sky!
Let’s keep finding ways to brighten these early March days. It’s horridly grey and rainy here today after heavy wet snow fell all morning and into the early afternoon (and ugh! riding my bike that last kilometre from the boat to home, wind and rain chilling me, mud splashing up from the bepuddled dirt road). But day by day, we creep closer to spring, and my run last Saturday started at 6:40 a.m., at which time it was already light! So just as I know we’re making our way through the end of winter, so I will inch my way through mid-week fatigue. . . And as I promised above, I have a few uplifting things to share on Friday. ’til then, feel free to share your own mid-week woes of spirit-brighteners — we can do this!
Good heavens, you're having a stretch of nasty weather. Sounds like you're pushing yourself pretty hard. Be sure to take time to relax. Bravo on the marathon. I am seriously impressed.
Well, I haven't done the marathon yet, but I'm pushing in that direction — and honestly? I'm impressed with myself so far. . . đ
Well, here it's early Wednesday evening and we've just had a massive summer thunderstorm sweep across the city and now it's drizzling, as it has been on and off for several days. The laundry I optimistically hung out in a brief midday moment of sunshine is sodden … But I'm happy anyway, because I've taught my weekly Art class (20 kids, ages 6-12, always a challenge to keep all of them engaged), so the rest of the work week is just solitary writing.
I love those umbrellas!
Sounds like you're on track for a marathon. Are you going to tell us (or did I miss it?) which one? Spouse says he's doing Boston next year – meet us there?!
I have a mid-week class that always means the same thing as what yours seems to — once that one's over, the rest of the week appears much easier.
Aren't those umbrellas charming?
And Boston — imagine! — it would be such fun to meet up, but it's an impossible time for me to get away . . . I think . . .
That is a serious run and I'm hay to hear, with all the aches and the fall, you can do it with such ease!
I have to say that I astound myself by being able to do it — if you'd asked my 40-year-old self what the chances were, she'd just have laughed. Obviously, I only have so many running years left, but I am really enjoying them at the moment.
I LOVE the things you see on your runs. Almost makes running seem like a good idea. Then I remember walkers see the same things – for longer đ
Oh, you're a sly one. It's very true about walkers . . . I expect I'll be one again before too long, and it's the best speed on vacation.
It sounds as though you have been very active during the weekend! I am looking forward to a sunny (62 degrees F) Sunday in London. The weather here has been grey.
I'm so envious! Have a wonderful trip, and I'll look forward to reading your posts.
Running is a joy but Marathon training can be draining. I know all about it. You expect physical fatigue of course but the effect on mental energy can come as a surprise. Don't worry about going to sleep before 9:00. You can never have enough sleep when you're training at this level. It was only after I stopped running temporarily due to an injury that I realized how much the high mileage had affected me. But the joy you feel crossing the finish line is worth it. See you in Boston for 2015? A 4:25 time will qualify you. btw I enjoy reading your blog and look forward to hearing about your Marathon experience.
This is so helpful, Angela. I don't think I had factored in the possible effect on mental energy, but perhaps that's what I've been experiencing.
I really think the chances of my qualifying for Boston are slim to none. I'm hoping to manage in 4:40. I've done the last 5 or 6 Halfs at right around 2 hours, and really, I'll be happy just to finish without crawling! đ
I'm sure the grey drizzle/snow/rain we've been living under contributes to feeling fatigued, on top of the 32 km run. Congratulations on that!
What a cheerful, spirit-lifting sight those umbrellas are, even in a photo. Such a creative, thoughtful thing for someone to do.
It's really been something, hasn't it? It's drumming down on the skylight in my study right now, and those umbrellas must be blown out of the trees at this point. But yes, I thought it was such a lovely way to spread the joy, put a little colour into a lot of grey lives.
The umbrella's are wonderful – thanks for sharing them. The exhilaration you find in your runs is conveyed so effectively through your posts that it could almost – almost – tempt me to try it.
This has already been a looong week and the next few days – well, they'll just make it longer…
We may reach the mid 40s on Friday, though, and that is a very cheering thought.
If my conversion table is right, you'll be right around us temperature-wise by the end of the week — we expect to be somewhere between 7 and 10 Celsius, which is mid 40s to 50, I think. Good running weather if you want to take a break from kickboxing! đ
Oh how those umbrellas lifted my spirits. They must have been such a spot of joy on a dreary day!. Your posts on runs are always so filled with energy that you could almost tempt me as well. But I remember that I couldn't even walk 32km at the moment and my back would surely rebel. I envy you that though, the exhilaration and feeling of exhausted accomplishment.
I'm very lucky, right now, in being able to run — and yes, it's precisely that, both the exhilaration of the physical action and the exhausted well-being of accomplishment. My husband often comments on feeling virtuous after a good run, and I quibble with him over mixing morality into it, but I do understand what he means. . .