Yeah! The snow that has been lurking here for the last 2 damned weeks has (almost) disappeared, pavements are safe again and with no frost overnight and the promise of no rain I was looking forward to getting back to running again today.
I don't run far, I'm no marathon/iron man nutter (like my crazy mad fool of a brother) but 5-10 kilometres 2-3 times a week is good for my soul and allows me to eat cake (I'm not kidding, I use running as a form of dieting, that way I can eat what I want and not feel guilty - so I do, eat that is, not feel guilty!) I have tried in the past to increase my distance up to a steady 10k but then I started developing problems with my hips and ankles and stuff, it's as though my body knows what distance it can do and any further than that it starts to fall apart (well it is 45 (gulp) later (much later) this year)
I make no appologies for the admission that I'm a fair weather runner, not keen on running in the pouring rain, although as I do have the appropriate gear I really have no excuse, I refuse however to run in temperatures less than zero, if the ground is slippy you can guarantee I will slip. So today was OK, no rain and above zero.
We live at the top of a hill (well, not quite the top, maybe 2/3 of the way to the top...) so I run down and into Kettwig proper, then along the river (nice and flat) before having to work my way back up the hill to home - fortunately this climb is aided by 2 lots of steps (I don't run up those - Rocky Balboa I am not) and then along the last road before my house which you don't realise slopes until you come to run UP the bloody thing, it's a long drag along Thiemanstrasse. My circuit is a minimum of 5km and as I get fitter I might run further along the river, I like running along the flat, or downhill, really not keen on uphill...(I'm sure you're getting the picture of the type of runner I am, don't like nasty weather or uphill slopes...)
I run with my dog, I think Logan associates the word 'runnies' spoken in a happy, jaunty tone with masochism - he kind of likes it, or rather the idea of it, but the reality of it, being dragged along on the end of a lead at a pace decreed by me, rather than ambling along sniffing and peeing at will, is not really suited to the idle temperament of a golden retriever...I think he's praying for more snow already!
I can pinpoint where Logan will stop to poo on a run to a 10 metre area, this morning he threw the brakes on at the end of Thiemanstrasse (literally sitting down and glaring at me, daring me to carry on and drag him along the floor) but this was just a false alarm, he waited until a little further along where there was grass to deposit onto - he prefers a soft landing for some reason) fortunately there's a bin not too far away and I'm ALWAYS equipped with poo bags (you'd be surprised (or maybe not, depending on how many dog-walking (as opposed to goose-stepping!) Germans you know) how many Germans don't poop-a-scoop)
Once we're near the river I let Logan off the lead and trust (ha! how stupid am I?) Logan to keep up with me (he has been known to vanish into the bushes on the trail of some abandoned food or a nasty tissue) this being along the river, Logan will of course take the opportunity to bathe - there's realy no better word for it, he wades in and often lies down and drinks ('cos he has access to no clean, fresh water at home of course) I joke that he's half hippo....even when the air temperature is below zero Logan will get into the water, crazy dog.
I've been running since I had my first child. At the gym, following the birth, I started using the treadmills for the first time ever, keen to lose all that babyweight, watching the number of calories being burnt, and the realisation slowly dawned that if I went faster then I burnt more (sad eh? Maths and science A levels & a science degree and it still took actually doing it and seeing it for the realisation to hit home) After that it was a small step to running outside for a charity thing and then moving house to a more countrified area where running outside along the lanes with friends could be fun.
The running with the dog didn't actually happen till we moved to Germany, I see it as killing two birds with one stone, my exercise and Logan's 'walk', I think Logan may have a different opinion but as he can't talk and is overweight he has to put up with it!!
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