"We're getting the band back together" ... that memorable line from
Blues Brothers is appropriate for a few us here at RC it seems who need to get back on the road and pound out a few kilometres.
It's been a quiet time lately: for me especially, running has been pretty well non-existent for many weeks now. I've had plenty of lay-offs over the last few years, but nothing like this. My belly has swelled, I've had to swap to a longer belt, and the bathroom scales are telling me things it has never told me before: the relationship, it seems, has soured. And it's not the bathroom scales who are to blame.
As usual, this period of non-running snuck up on me, luring me into its territory without a hint of awareness on my part until it was all
way too late. It's true that for several weeks I was flourishing under a new regime of hard work (house renovation and maintenance) and I was actually fitter than I've been in ages despite the lack of running. I was lighter too than i had been for years. However it came to an end and in the space of four short weeks I became a veritable blob (at least by my standards), and I don't like it.
This morning, therefore, I took to the great outdoors in what was a short, ugly, slow and somewhat embarrassing run. But a run it was, and it felt strangely exhilarating, unworthy though it may have been. And in something of a revelation, I've discovered that one of this state's most significant walking trails, the 250km Great Northern Walk which runs northward from the centre of Sydney to the city of Newcastle, passes within 700m of my home. A major highway passing between it and my house had previously stopped me exploring that area, but now I've found it and it's great - just what the off road shoes were bought for (photos below)!
I've kept half an eye on the RC forums recently and I've been disturbed by the quietude here. Not only quiet, but then the spam bots kicked in and made it an ugly place. (Thanks, EG for cleaning those up). I guess many of us here maybe have reached many, or most of our running goals and have less to write about, but it would be a huge shame to see the forums close down for lack of interest. To think the annual
Almeria half marathon RC "AGM" could become in jeopardy doesn't bear thinking about. Not to mention Connemara, which looks to me as though it should be an additonal annual event.
I'm happy to commit to making an effort to drop in more often and help keep the forums alive, but it needs a few more people doing the same, I think. We can't rely on EG and Sweder to keep the place going by themselves - they have busy lives too.
Dropping back into Blues Brothers mode;
let's catch the Katy, people.
Jellied July
I'll just have to keep trying.