Well how y'all doin'? Welcome to Hotlanta! You're gonna' have to get a car.
Mr Lapin and I have been in the United States for two months now, Atlanta to be precise. The last couple of weeks in Bangkok were so incredibly stressful that I had just about enough time in the day to get the relocating stuff done let alone trying to contemplate running.
Needless to say I arrived in a very hilly city very unfit. I am not kidding the first few weeks here it seemed that whatever direction I was walking in I was always walking up hill. Big hills. I am beginning to think this is why everyone drives. Oh, my legs ached and my heart thumped. I huffed and puffed and thought how the hell am I going to be able to run these hilly streets?
The solution was to get all American and take my 'sneakers' to work so that I could join my ladies walking at lunch time. Now don't be fooled, when I say walking I am not talking about a gentle lunch time stroll to 'stretch the legs'. I am talking FAST walking.
Our group is led by the 'take no prisoners' Ms T; a women so committed to getting her miles in during a 55 minute break that woe betide the person who talks too much or slips back too far - you get dropped. So forewarned I began to walk with the group 3-4 lunchtimes a week. The initial two weeks were actually as though I was running for the first time again - they went so fast and uphill that I was the huffing, puffing newcomer desperately trotting to keep up. But the walking did the trick and very quickly my fitness levels rose, my legs ceased to ache and my hips no longer felt arthritic and stiff.
After a couple of weeks walking I felt I was ready to start running again. Let me tell you now no matter what advantage I may have gained running in extreme heat and humidity it was nothing when running at a higher altitude and hills. Oh boy, were those first few runs an embarrassment. Mr Lapin had been scouting the new neighbourhood and discovered some wonderful streets for us to run - the trouble was they were hilly. Seriously hilly. Hilly to the point that at times I believed I was in danger of running backward that was how tough I was finding it.
I hated running during those first ones. I thought I was never going to be fit again. I envisaged myself having to start from the beginning and spend the next 8 months getting myself to a point where I could comfortably run 5k. I wasn't even trying to be ambitious and think 'getting myself to run 10k'.
Those initial runs, though painful, eventually bore fruit in that my fitness continued to increase (coupled with those daily walk/sprints I was doing) and I started to find the hills challenging in a good way rather than sickening one.
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| Beautiful Piedmont Park |
In addition, when you have a park as beautiful as Piedmont to discover, the thrills come into play. I have mentioned in earlier posts that Bangkok parks (what few there are of them) come with multiple rules about what you can and can not do in them. Essentially you are allowed to run/walk along the paths but using the space for recreational activities or as a piece of calm civic space is not so encouraged.
In the US it is different - I don't think you are allowed to smoke in them but I think you can drink a beer in them. You can certainly run, skip, jump and roll down the hills in them. You can bring in your dog and relax with your family and friends while grilling a Hotdog.
My runs are now concentrated exploring the park which is a wonderful combination of open space, shaded paths, hills, a lake and best of all an asphalt track. at .52 miles I have begun again to build up my distances. I'm still pretty slow and the hills are testing my ankles, but I like that I am being challenged by this terrain rather than running a predicable flat course. The park enables me to choose different routes that give me different gradients. The aim is to keep myself going and not stop, not allow the voice in my head to say 'Oh Lara just stop will you, this hurts'.
Yes, I can honestly say the move to Atlanta has been a positive one. It is hard to be cynical in a place where people smile at you and say hello as you walk or run past them. Where people will join a conversation just because it is happening. Atlanta is a strange place; full of contradictions that in other posts I will explore. For now though I am loving it here, the running, the air, the people.
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| Tumble of pumpkins |
Something else I like about Atlanta. The city that is famous for its car culture still has corners where it is possible that someone like me could fit in and find a home, it is a city that has places that refuse to conform to the 'norm'
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| Spotted at the Midtown Music Festival a couple of weeks ago |
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