I’ve got serious runner’s envy.

I realised I was a ‘proper’ runner about a year ago. It wasn’t because I was training for a marathon, nor that I had done a 5km, 10km or a half-marathon race in my first 8 months of running. And it wasn’t after having spent hundreds of $$$ on the gear.  It was feeling envious watching runners.  Even on a weekend morning, after doing 20km+ runs by myself – feeling emotionally and physically drained, and completely done for the day – I would still catch sight of a runner outside, from my cocoon on the sofa, and be envious. I wanted to lace up and get out there.

As frustrating as having mono has been, it’s actually been freeing not living by a running schedule – not worrying about pace or hills or speed or mileage increases.  I’ve had so much more free time too – Netflix rocks.  For the first time in 2 years, I’ve enjoyed not running.  But last night, walking through the park that I typically do my short runs in, I was envious again. I wanted to be out in the sunshine, enjoying a run with the look of utter content that I saw in the runners’ faces (well some of them, others were doing speed work!!!).

The last 6 weeks, I have done 3 runs: a horrific 3km, a slightly less horrific 3km, and a tough but not too bad 4km.  Apart from those, I’ve done nothing.

Right, it’s time to get back into it.

In September, I’m running a 5km and a 10km race.  The original plan had been to do a sub 26 for the 5km, and a sub 52 for the 10km.  So, back to running 3 times a week will slowly build up the mileage, including a few hills (both races have nasty steep hills at the end – yuk).

This week has been busy, so rather than squeezing an evening run in, I’ll do a Saturday and Sunday,  Aiming for a 4km each day – it’s a long way off where I should be right now, but if I can do 8km over the weekend, I’ll be chuffed!

Wish me luck.

G

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