Jogging your memory

[23doves]

I did promise that I wouldn't post too many LJ updates about the development of my running skills in preparation for the 10k race in March - and to be fair, I think I've made good on that promise so far. One blog entry in the autumn last year was about all I managed. So then, I think I've finally earned another

Comments

[ext_383304]

Good post. It's easy to take fitness for granted. In my twenties I was running four miles a day and went on a walking holiday in the Highlands covering fourteen miles of hilly ground every day. When I tailed off in my late twenties I didn't really notice the weight and sluggishness creeping up. I do remember feeling very youthful and energetic when I was fitter but also, like you say, often over-wrung. I didn't really take into consideration the effort it takes to be that fit and now I'm trying to get back there, from a lazier mindset, I realise how much effort it tookmon a daily basis.

Perhaps it's easier to be laid back in your thirties but having upped my fitness again and cut down drinking last year, I have to say, the past year I felt better than I've felt for a decade.

[23doves]

Yes, it's good - it doesn't necessarily come easily, but then nor does anything much in life. I still need to work on cutting down on drinking, mind you, there have been some appalling failures there over the last four months (though a nice jog in the cold can do a lot to kill a hangover).

Until recently I had assumed that sluggishness was just a natural part of growing older, failing to make the correlation between that and my own desk-bound dayjob and the fact I didn't walk much anymore. Back in my really skint days, I got most of my exercise by walking rather than commuting (I'd sometimes walk five miles home from work or college if it meant saving a couple of quid).