Taking on RED January

Date: Sunday, January 31, 2021

Distance: 2.27 miles

Listened to: My friend Cath

I had already committed to running at least four times a week for January until I glanced at an Instagram post from a friend. He wrote: “I am going to aim to run every single day in January…[blah, blah, blah – my words, not his]. Tempted to give it a try?” Damn you and thank you George! I did just that. George and his wife Rachel opted for at least 10k a day. I say at least because they chucked in a casual marathon in January too. They are amazing. I live in constant awe of their attitude and ability.

For my run every day or RED January journey, I settled for my usual four days of running plus at least two miles on the days in between. And I can honestly say it has been one of the most liberating things I have every done. Weirdly liberating in that you are tying yourself to a daily task, but the commitment to run very day means you just do it and your patient family give you leeway to do so. There were definitely times when I had had a busy day at work or it was really wet or windy or dark – or all three – or I would have rather have had a glass of wine, but the force of the date on the calendar made me go out again, again and again. It became a 31-day checklist exercise. I do like to tick something off!

It was tiring though and I guess the trick is to “run easy”. I hate using quote marks unnecessarily but in this instance it is because I have no idea what it means! Run easy to me is to not run at all! I am not skilled enough to have control over my pace. It is whatever it is when I go out the front door. A tough day working from home can slow me up by half a minute per mile while a good song can get me under the 10-minute mile mark, but that does not mean I know what an easy pace is.

Luckily, I had some inspiration along the way to keep me going. The inspiration began before January 1 though with Marissa’s birthday run (below left) that I shoe-horned into my lunch hour on my last working day before Christmas. Marissa is a brave soul on so many fronts and she compounded her awesomeness with regular, smiley and neat running in 2020. She continues to amaze me.

Three days later and I headed out for my first Christmas Day run to the sea followed by a quick dip. It was the first Christmas Day run (above right) for Abs, Cath and I. We (they) jumped in puddles, we walked the tougher hills and I faltered a bit at the end, but I enjoyed spending precious time with these fabulous women before the new lockdown rules came in. The memory of that run made me smile during my longest run in January.

December had been a wobbly month for me after the 100-mile tussle of November. I felt I had lost my mojo. I was exhausted and I was worrying about a foot niggle. I did not stop running but I halved my mileage for the month. Instead, I did more online strength and Zumba classes to give myself a break from the monotony of running and to get me physically stronger. John also worked out that too many planks and downward dogs were making my foot hurt, so I ditched yoga. By January 1, I was ready to go again.

By far my biggest inspiration was my friend Suzi (in purple below), who was tackling the Couch to 5k programme. When I offered to run with her, she was genuinely keen. When I was a new runner, the thought of running with someone else filled me with absolute gut-sickening fear. She just took it in her stride and it was an absolute pleasure to run with her. Her mental and physical toughness blew me away. She just kept going, no matter the gradient of the hill or distance ahead. Hills I would have pulled up on in the early days, and sometimes still do, Suzi just went up them. She showed me what can be possible if you do not panic and keep going. It was a real honour to witness her 5k moment (below right). As a consequence, I used the mantra of “Run like Suzi” to help me through tough times in my solo runs…and it worked! The blend of channelling my inner Suzi and the resilience I must have built up during the month, saw me run up hills I had previously baulked at. Thanks Suze.

Aside from RED January, my other running goals for 2021 were to run a half marathon and the Kingsbridge 10k route every month. A rare sunny day got me to the sea (below) and back for my half, including a jump in the Christmas Day puddles for Abs and Cath. A really rare sunny afternoon last week saw me do the 10k route. It’s still ghastly, by the way. At one point I thought I was hallucinating when I imagined I saw myself running down the hill towards me at 8k, but realised it was my daughter Maggie! I really thought I had lost my mind there for a brief second!

I completed RED January today (obviously) with a little run with Cath to get to 120 miles for the month. Aside from the satisfaction of ending on a round number, it represents the furthest I have ever run in a month. I am proud of myself. Not often I say that. I did not break down; I did not wobble. I just went out and did it…with the support of my family. The support of my friends was critical too and this blog is an ode to them. They put up with my text updates and always had words of encouragement. Abs, Cath, Lou, Rach, Marissa and Suze – you are totally brilliant and I love you very much. I won’t be rushing to run every day in February. I am looking forward to a few rest days, but feel this is a good foundation to build from.