Chasing 1,000 miles

Date: Thursday, December 30, 2021

Distance: 14.3 miles

Listened to: My own whinging!

Darn those tracking apps and their end of year stats round-ups. I have not been on Strava long enough to warrant such a report, but I have recorded all my runs via my Garmin watch. A glance at these stats told me I needed around 40 miles to get to 1,000. This was exciting. This was a real milestone!

And then I got a virus. Not THE virus. Whatever the virus was, I felt really awful. No running for me. One week I could take. Two weeks off and I was fidgety…not for running per se but the fear of not getting those miles done. I ran 10 miles on December 5 and then did not run again until December 22. I was so frustrated as I had envisioned getting a good chunk of those miles done in and around Lichfield utilising the joy of the flat towpath. But our visit to see friends in Staffordshire came and went and I still had not run.

I did eventually get back to running with a 10k back on the hills of the South Hams. It was slow but I was grateful to be out of bed and out and about. I sneaked in four miles on Christmas Eve and then five on Christmas Day on my way to the beach for the annual nutter fest that is a dip at South Milton. My hip protested a little on the way down towards South Milton, but I kept going as we had an 11am appointment with the sea and I thought I would run it off. I hobbled around for the rest of the day and the day after that and so on. Now I was post-viral with a sore hip with 14.3 miles to go and my last monthly half marathon still to do too.

Time was running out! I could not let 1,000 miles go by. I should at least give it a go or it would be a very grumpy end of 2021 and probably start of 2022. I aimed for New Year’s Eve eve. As ever, I had friends to get me through. Even so, it was hands down the worst run of my life! No lungs and no legs. No arms even! All my limbs felt heavy and breathing was a challenge, along with the hip pain. It was genuinely dreadful. I had to stop my friends and ask them to walk the hills (even the shallow inclines). I was thoroughly miserable.

There was one highlight though. When we stopped at the highest point to bag the usual selfie (which I cannot even post because I look horrendous!), I saw a message from good friends that their new baby girl had arrived. My joy was short lived though. My dear friends were so patient and could see I was in genuine distress about how I was feeling and told me stop at 13.1 miles to at least get the half done. However, the thought of having to go out again the next day to do 1.2 miles did not sit well with me, so I crawled on to get the distance done. I cannot even post the photo from this…I look horrendous!

What a palaver! While I was overjoyed to get to 1,000, my over-riding feeling was worry that my running mojo had upped and left. Supposing that was how all my future runs would be from now on? Over the top panicking? Maybe…just a bit.

I had done a lot of it in 2021 and pushed myself way beyond what I thought was possible: three marathons, at least a half marathon every month, a monthly Kingsbridge 10k and 1,000 miles is ridiculous! I don’t want to stop now. I have things I want to achieve and really like the smug eat-all-you-like post-run feeling.

I crept out again for two miles on January 3 and three on January 5. I still felt rubbish with daily yoga sessions also making my legs feel heavy. A 10k with Abs saw me right though. I was very wobbly before, worrying that my lungs and legs still weren’t ready. We wobbled out together, walked a few hills but other than that, felt somewhere near my old self. I also coughed up some extra gunk too (excuse the graphic detail) that I felt had been constricting my breathing for a while. Thanks for getting me out lovely lady. Sorry about the gunk!

Last week was better still with two five-milers, a half and a 5k in the bag. I’m not where I was back in late September but I am not panicking any more. I returned to the scene of the rubbish 14.3 miles for my half and am pleased to report it went a lot better! Think my friends found me better company too.