Winter is well and truly here. With it has come shorter daylight hours and longer nights. As a result, it's still dark when my alarm wakes me at 5:30 am. It's even dark at six. Call me a wuss but I'm not too crazy about running the streets when it's still dark, even in the morning. This means that I usually wait until 6:30 or 7:00am before I hit the road and that puts me behind the eight-ball if I want to do a good run and still get to work on time. Good runs during winter usually get postponed until the weekend, otherwise it's fast fives and sprints which I absolutely loathe. I'm trying to like them, but the feeling of out of control breathing at the moment is not my most favorite thing.
The only time I really get out early in the morning is on a Tuesday when I go swimming. I'm normally in the pool at 6:00am and then out again an hour later. Swimming makes running feel like a walk in the park.
I'm trying to remember what I did last winter and the winter before. Was there lots of running? How did I stay fit? What do all you other runners do? To compensate I'm walking to the train station, catching an earlier train and then walking the 2km from the station in the city to my workplace. I guess anything is better than nothing, right?
This body shape has changed. I'm getting used to having legs like tree trunks. Sometimes the muscle underneath my skin surprises me. I catch a glimpse in the mirror and the leanness of my torso catches me off guard. I eat like a horse. I love to eat breakfast after a morning run. It's like the best food ever invented. I'm surprised sometimes at the volume of food I can pack away.
I often say that one of the best things about running and swimming is how I feel when it's over - when the heart is still pounding and the muscles are aching, and you know you're done. It's over. You can rest. Adrenaline is still pumping and I feel so good, so alive, so invigorated. That's the feeling I'm addicted to. That's the drug I keep coming back to. And it's like I've conquered something, achieved something, beaten something.
My next race will be a 10 kilometer run in July. I know I'm ready. I can't wait.
