Happily Ever After

Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running

Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.

Farewell To The Fifties

by Russell Turner - 20:07 on 31 July 2018

In just a few hours I’ll no longer be in my 50s. Tomorrow’s my 60th birthday when I’ll officially become old. The good news is that I don’t feel it – apart from a couple of hours after today’s long training run.

I’d intended to make the rest of my long sessions run/walks, as that’s what I’ll be doing to get around t’ Yorkshire Marathon on October 14, but last week’s eight-miler saw me fail for the first time. The heat and humidity forced me to walk at 6.2 miles, and again at 7.2. At least I completed the eight miles (not that there’s much choice when you run four miles out and four miles back).

So I set off on today’s 10-miler intending to run the whole way – and I did, at a better rate than the previous 10-mile run thanks to lower temperatures, and even added three-quarters of a mile on the end, which took me just past two hours running. I should have rounded it up to 11 miles but after two hours I felt I’d done enough, even for the sake of another three minutes. I’ll regret that tomorrow.

Next week’s challenge is 11-12 miles, the day after a weekend playing at Foxes and a wedding in Banff. At least I’ve got Sunday to recover. The following week, after weddings on Friday and Sunday, the aim is to run/walk my own private half marathon on Tuesday. And I’ve got Chatterbox to prepare and a website to build.

At 60 I should be easing into retirement. What’s gone wrong?

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