This blog was never going to be entirely about photography, because I’m so much more than a person who takes photos. Especially now as I’m on the cusp of starting at university in just over a weeks time.
And this post is about running. Expect to see quite a few more running and other sports posts in the future.
I’ve always been into sports. Water polo primarily, but I’ve dabbled in others over the last ten years. But I’ve never really been ‘fit’, as in cardiovascular-fit. Running too has always been a bit hopeless, I’ve just never been able to do it. I’ve always wanted to run, but never managed more than a single km in a setting really.
Back in March I had a car accident (it was really dumb and all my own fault) which really changed things for me. From what I can work out, as I hit the telegraph pole I also hit the top of my thigh on the underside of the steering wheel. This crushed my quadricep and actually split it across the muscle, almost from side to side.
Thankfully in June I met this wonderful physio (if you’re reading this, I think you’re awesome and I owe you everything even though you’ve seen all my cellulite in glorious close up detail) who put me through the most excruciating sports massages on a weekly basis. The truth is, I lost all confidence in my ability to do any sport at all because everything hurt. Even driving my car hurt.
But anyway, he told me to go out for a little run, and so I did, and you know what, I did over 3km without stopping. Such determination to fix my quadricep made me forget about the fact that I felt like I might die from a heart attack.
And the turning point was seeing a meme on the internet. It said something like ‘I run because I can. When I get tired I remember those that can’t run and what they would give for this gift I take for granted and I run harder. Because I know they would do the same for me.’ And I thought you know what, I sit around and I make too many excuses. I’ve got a bad quad. I’ve got chronic reoccurring tendonitis. I’m unfit. My heart is weak. My legs are short. But you know, there are people in the world that don’t have what I have and I should really be better at making the most of it.
I’m never going to be an excellent runner. My legs really are too short and my lever lengths are all wrong. There’s a reason I’m really good at powerlifting and a reason I’m not very good at running. But you know what? All that water polo experience, I can apply that to swimming. Water sports have always been my thing. And everyone is the same size on a bike, and weighing under 50kgs has to be in my favour there. Much less fat ass to drag round a hilly course. You start breaking down a triathlon into it’s parts and you begin to think to yourself, well maybe I can actually do this thing. So that’s it, I’m going to do this thing.
The huge motivation though has been using Strava. It’s a very simple concept, you carry a GPS on your runs and rides and it records your route. In minute, excruciating detail. I can actually see myself progress, because it tells me. Today I beat my personal best on both my two mile time AND my 5km time. And tomorrow I have a new goal that I’ve come up with on the fly for my run. For a stat-queen like myself, it’s incredible. And hey, I can even embed it here. Follow me y’all.
I’m not sure where I was going with this post. It was formulated an awful lot better at around about 3.5km somewhere up the A40 this morning. Anyway, if you follow me, expect more of this shit. I’m going to try to be a bit better at putting long posts like this on here instead of Faceache.
