David Syme - Jogging along

Jogging along

by David Syme

Great leap forward

Solo jogging in lockdown was becoming tedious. Some days I would set off on a route, then opt for a short-cut. I was plodding. One day, out in my car, I came to a road repair. A worker was directing traffic round the obstruction. When my turn came he said: “On ye go, old man.” I’m sure no slight was intended, but…. he called me old man! I managed to channel my grief at being called old man into positive thinking and started looking at the virtual running events which are advertised online. I chose a virtual half marathon, which I could run between 12 and 28 February, and started training. What a difference it made to my solo running! My running mindset took a great leap forward. I had a target, so kept lengthening my routes until I felt happy about tackling the half. I tried fartlek, I warmed up, warmed down and ate and drank less. On my runs I would look out for the road repair man: “I’ll show you old man” I would say to him, but of course I never found him. My running log began to look respectable, the distance if not the time taken, as I am no longer chasing PBs. The plus side of this event was that I had a window of two weeks to do the run. I studied the weather forecast and planned routes for east and west winds. The minus side was the absence of the adrenalin buzz from other competitors. The day came when I was set to do my run. A cold wind was blowing over from the continent, so I was driven 13 miles east of my home. Using quiet roads, cycle paths and walkways I jogged the distance quite happily, knowing that I was heading towards a hot shower and a warm welcome. When I turned into our street my phone app told me that I had not quite completed the 13.1 miles, so a wee victory lap round our block and the deed was done. Anyway, that was in February, and I am still on a high. Yesterday I started on a route, but changed it – not by taking a short-cut, by adding on a 2 mile loop. Old man, indeed.