Unexpected

Sometimes you never quite know what is going to make a good session.

Yesterday afternoon I was out running and for something different I thought I would head to a local reserve we have called Bold Park. When I was racing I used to run around Bold Park a little and I never really enjoyed it, too many hills, which were too steep and there was too much sand. I always preferred running somewhere else, anywhere else really.

Yesterday though when I was running it wasn't quite so bad. Even when the heaven's opened and I was absolutely saturated I found that I was actually kind of enjoying myself. I finished the session with a big grin.

Nothing had really changed in Bold Park since I had last run there, the paths were a bit better, but the hills were just as big and just as numerous, combined with the downpour I shouldn't have enjoyed myself, but I did. Strange.

What I came up with was this. When I used to run in Bold Park before I was trying to run for a particular outcome, a certain distance run at a certain pace. Bold Park is a very difficult place to do this, the trails are just too slow. I couldn't let myself enjoy the trails because I felt I wasn't running quick enough. Anyone who has run lots of trails would know that trail running doesn't usually work that way, that is one of the nice things about it, however, when I was running in Bold Park previously I just couldn't let myself relax enough to ignore pace and as such I never enjoyed the experience.

I think that really was the difference when I was running on Thursday. These days when I run I have no goal in mind, no target pace, or even any particular distance goal. I run as quickly or as slowly up the hills as I have to and slog through the sand if that is what it takes. I am definitely slower than I used to be, but I have to say the experience of relaxing and simply running the trail was much more enjoyable and one that I think I am likely to repeat

Probably a lesson in there somewhere