My First Run At Thirty… Working Out Goals

A week ago today I reached a new milestone in my life, I reached the big Three Zero. I can’t say I feel any different, no extra aches, pains or anything and no real emotion attached to the figure as such. However as I embarked on my first run of thirty I did think about my running future and where I should be taking this “hobby”.

The birthday ended up with me standing fully clothed in the shower at 2:30 in the morning, suffice to say it took two days before I was able to go out and tread the pavement. With the edges of the hangover from hell still rattling around the edges of my body and brain I laced up, did a half hearted warmup (not recommended) and plodded one of the slowest six miles of my running career. You can see the run recorded on my RunKeeper page.

The slow pace was intentional though, the run was more about relaxing, taking it easy and spending some time with my partner. I wanted to clock six miles and try to shrug off the memory of the last few days I had spent recovering,

I was thinking about the time when three miles was hard, very hard. The first miles I ever run and how I had slowly built up until 5 miles was no longer a big deal. I considered my first and only marathon to date and how during the race injury prevented me from reaching the time I was trained to meet. I thought about how hard it was to not be able to run outside during my two years in Egypt, but also how easy I had slipped back into running on my return to the UK. Once a runner, always a runner I guess!

I find running is often the most productive thinking time I have. When I am at home the distractions of what work I have to do, chores and general life stop me from being able to commit time to meditative like thinking that keeps my brain whirling round healthily. Running gives me that important time and mindset.

So where do I see my running heading in the next few years as I head up to middle age!

• Well first off, I am packing a few too many pounds right now. I think I could do with losing another 14lbs or so before I consider myself lean. I’m planning to keep fairly strictly to healthy dieting with mid length no goal specific running to achieve that.
• Once the weight is off attention will hopefully be heading towards the idea of running another marathon. My last marathon attempt saw injury in the form of blisters formed from just wearing bad shoes. I completed the race in five and a half hours, not terrible, but I know my fitness would have allowed a much faster time. I hope that marathon will come in 2012 or 2013 depending on my travel plans.
• It looks like I will be in New Zealand for up to 6months from January. Growing up in London, I have not exactly had easy access to good quality trail running so have never really thrown myself into it. If my understanding of Auckland’s surroundings are right then I hope to increase my trail running and really start to push my endurance and learn about the importance of pace.
• The ultimate goal is to keep enjoying running and keep myself healthy and hopefully injury free. I also like other activity such as yoga, swimming, cycling (although I don’t own a bike right now) and forms of circuit training, so I will be mixing some of this activity to keep exercise fun and fresh.

Tags: marathon, runkeeper, running goals