Runners strife

As you know I am currently in London enjoying the cold spring weather and the tree blossom that is starting to burst.  The cool weather has prompted me to dive back into regular runs and on Tuesday I ran my fastest 5k ever - 27 minutes.  It was 27 minutes of pure joy running through Kensington Gardens; the morning sun low in the sky that made running past an iron fence like dancing in a disco with a strobe light.

The park was full of other early morning runners, walkers and their dogs and cyclists making their way to work.  A London park is so utterly different to a Thai one that I had to remember to keep running and not stop with the shock of seeing a park being used rather than revered.  Sometimes Thai parks want to make you feel grateful for being allowed in them - not always, but sometimes.

Maybe it was the spring feel to the air, maybe it was the lower temperature or perhaps I am just getting faster, but I was surprised when I hit my 5k to find out it was my fastest - particularly as I was not feeling completely out of breath or as though I had pushed myself further than I had ever done before.

I was beginning to think to myself how wonderful it was going to be, two weeks of great running conditions.  I wasn't going to have to make sure I got my runs in after 6pm when it was cooler, as I do when in Bangkok.  I was not going to have to make do with a treadmill should I not make it to the park. I was going to be able to pretty much run where and when I wanted - a revelation to me.

Early morning running legs

The only problem with this grand plan is that I have injured my foot.  My left foot to be precise. A sprain that has been moving from the side to the sole of my foot.  So, just as I have got back into a routine, just as I have figured out that it was a goal I needed to get me running regularly again, just as I was plotting how to increase my distances and push myself to run for longer - all those plans are now on hold.  OK temporarily on hold, but on hold none the less.

Mr Lapin reassured me that these things happen, always when you are in a good running place something - whether injury of work schedule - will occur to knock you off course.  But for me it seems never ending.  I made it to my February 10k race after which I got knocked off routine by a work conference in the US and a fall in my apartment that bruised by back.  Not to mention some soul searching as to why these events were making it harder for me to get back to running.  It is frustrating; and while I know it is not for long I can comfort myself only so much by reading my running twitter feeds, other runners blogs and encouraging my Daily Mile running buddies.

I just have to remember that desire leads to suffering and due to suffering I realise that I must now be a runner.