Brian Moss
Running Out of Patience:
Sometimes
running can feel like a chore but when you’re injured you really miss it.
It
gets more and more difficult to drive through any major Irish town and not
encounter a group of runners pounding the paths and the nation’s roadways.
There have been so many negative aspects of the recession but one positive is
the explosion of people who are swapping the steel toe for the gel cushion and
getting out there and its time to out myself, I’m one of them. Yes were all
getting in touch with our inner Forest Gump’s who famously ‘Just felt like
running’ and once started didn’t really want to stop. Whether it’s
better education on the importance of exercise, influences of programmes such
as Operation Transformation or sheer boredom running is very much in vogue. Fun
Runs have replaced hangover recovery for many as the Sunday morning ambition
and this can certainly only be a good thing. I’m writing about running instead
of been out there myself at present as I’m laid up with a back injury, and it’s
only when you can’t run that you realise how much you miss it.
I
would like to be able to say I sustained my back injury in some heroic
way, perhaps saving a family from a burning building or doling out food parcels
in some far flung third world country, but unfortunately it’s a tad bit
more embarrassing, I did my back in whilst been thrown into a boot of a car.
No, no
need not raise the alarm, this wasn’t a tiger kidnapping gone wrong,
no this was yet more evidence that myself and my fellow 30 year old mates will
never grow up. Horseplay would be the prognoses if my mother had seen it.
Looking into my friends open boot in a car park a couple of weeks ago I
happened to comment that his car had a really big boot, he took this to mean
that I wanted to get in. A quick physics lesson for you now kids, when a 6’3
ginger bear wants to put a 5’8 cub into a boot there’s only going to be one
winner, and despite my protests in I went, in the process pulling several
muscles and a couple of ligaments in my back along the way - I’ve had
better mornings.
A
visit to the physio later here I am two weeks on from boot gate unable to run
until my back recovers and starting to really miss putting on my Asics of an
evening and heading off for a jog. Considering we had a pretty horrendous
winter and with the clock going back a couple of weeks ago
heralding the start of the most elusive Irish phenomenon’s – bright
evenings I was really looking forward to actually being able to see where I was
running, but alas its not to be. One of the more frustrating aspects of not
been able to get out there and run is the feeling of wasting precious good
weather days which we’ve had a few of lately. Anyone who’s lived in
Ireland for at least one month will know how rare they can be.
Running for many of us who were involved with GAA
and Soccer clubs over the years was seen as some kind of punishment. The lap’s
part of training was the prelude to actually having some fun and so initially
it took me time to get to appreciate the simple act of running without a ball
in sight. Initially I didn’t see the point but over the last couple
of years I have certainly got the bug. Runners should be honest though,
the actual process of putting one foot in front of the other at a
half decent pace isn’t the most enjoyable aspect of the whole thing,
it’s the feeling when you finish that’s worth chasing. No doubt whether it’s a
mile or a marathon you managed to complete, the sense of achievement really is
all it’s cracked up to be. I’m sure I’m not revealing any state secrets here
for those who already participate but if you are someone who is considering
giving it a go take my advice you won’t regret it.
And so
as I wait it out until I can get back on the right road literally my waist line
unlike our economy is already showing signs of growth and as I become
generally more irritable to be around I’ve come to realise that I’m
now a fully-fledged runner. So no more will you hear me complain as I often
have in the past when travelling throughout the country about road runners not
adhering to the two abreast unwritten rule, or being forced to take a lengthy
detour because of yet another fun run, in fact now jealously of those who
can run is my new complaint.
God I
could do with a run!
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