Thoughts on jogging

I have spent two and a half hours walking at speed (and when I say “speed” I mean purposefully, rather than just that wandering type walk I am prone to do around the house) this week and therefore I am now an expert on the subject and feel I should share with you some things I have learned during that time.

Rubber Bands

Seriously.  The Post Office must be losing MILLIONS by allowing posties to just drop rubber bands on the pavements.  Why can’t they just drop them in their post bags, or pocket, or even just a bin rather than leaving them lying around on the pavement.   I would stop to pick them up but the world doesn’t need to see my arse up in the air 476 times a day.

Music

Music has always been a huge part of my life and John Miles summed it up perfectly when he said

To live without my music
Would be impossible to do.
In this world of troubles,
My music pulls me through.

That has always been true for me.  Mr Blue Sky by ELO will always make me smile, no matter what was happening before the song came on.  Some of my greatest memories revolve around music, Mr B dancing on his own on Clapham Common as we walked back to our car after a Stevie Wonder gig when we could still hear him playing; Red Hot Chilli Peppers playing whilst playing Scrabble on one of our first dates; Supertramp being hailed off during a concert in France;  being told by security guards to sit down at the first ever Princes Trust concert in the 80s and four rows collectively telling him to sod off.  All memories with a song attached to them.

Therefore it never occurred to me to start power walking without a soundtrack.   Apple Music means I can hear a song and think “love the beat of that, that’s going on the playlist” and have it added instantly.

Which leaves me scratching my head somewhat at the inclusion of Clocks by Coldplay.  What the hell was a I thinking when I added that?!  It came on this morning and it nearly made me hurl my phone into a bush.

Motivating it was not.

Ditto Adele’s Chasing Pavements.  I can see why thought that might be funny, in an ironic kind of way, but when you are trying to get up a hill knowing there is a man walking two staffies right behind you, trust me this song is rubbish.

Unlike Paradise City but Guns N Roses.   Now that is a tune to get moving to.

Ditto Take me to the River by Talking Heads.  It might not sound like a great song to walk to but on the way home today when I knew it was downhill, that song was great for me to focus on standing up right and walking properly to it.

I need to get my kit sorted the night before 

Yesterday I grabbed my hoodie (I only have the one) out of the tumble drier and put it on whilst thinking “hmm this is slightly damp but never mind”.  By the time I got home, freezing and having had to cut my walk short because I was so cold, there was steam coming off my shoulders.  It wasn’t attractive.  And proved my hoodie was wetter than I thought.   Ditto finding socks and trainers etc and making sure my phone and watch are charged.

Why does my nose run faster than anything else?

It does and this baffles me.  My noses runs every morning for about three minutes.   And I never have a tissue.    See above as to why my hoodie had to go in the washing machine.

Why do my shoe laces come undone?

See that one on the left in the picture up there?  Every time.  Every single time.  It comes undone.  And I don’t realise until it starts smacking the back of my other leg.

Not becoming obsessed with my average time

I found myself, back against a hedge, waiting this morning for a van to pull off a driveway and onto the main road.  All I could think about was whether or not I should have paused my “map my run app”.   Standing around in hedges is dodgy at the best of times but whilst it is also then impacting on that kilometer being slower than the last due to said inactivity it is now making me wonder if I can get away with pausing the app whilst I loiter.  Or is that just seen as a bit ridiculous?  This is indicative of the conversations I have in my head whilst I am out for an hour.

Cramp

And my final thought it is on cramp.  Cramp is to be expected.  Or aches.  And niggles etc.  All part of a jogger’s list of ailments I guess, but I get cramp in my knuckles.  What is that about?  And why do I walk with my fists clenched?

Odd.