It was raining when I left work, last night, but there was no question about heading out for a run. It had to be done.

The rain had stopped before I passed the front gate to do a little (200m) warmup jog, though it remained quite damp underfoot.

Hung a U-ey and then it was into EARL (EAling Run Loop) proper.

Starting a little quick I was shocked and horrified (okay, maybe not) to see three women running towards me (this needs to happen more often!), near Northfields Tube. This was about the same number of people I’d seen running my loop every other time I’d done it – in total. Very Odd. Yes, Odd with a capital ‘O’.

Into “ooh, too fast, now I have a stitch” mode on the slight undulations of Pope’s Lane. I slowed down, telling myself “it’s not a race” and I should “ease back into this silly activity”. Then I spotted another two runners heading towards me. I’m thinking “this is the wettest day I’ve been running on and there’s more people running than ever, what the hell?!”.

It wasn’t until I spotted the third pair and dismissed the notion of a gym or club run that I realised..

These were all suckers, just like me, guilty of over-indulging during the festive season!

Ha! Guilt strikes!

This amused me and I continued, checking the time: “Hmm.. doesn’t look too bad.. maybe I can beat my PB?”

I upped the pace a fair way out, knowing that I’d still run faster in town because “people are watching!”. Through the centre of Ealing was good fun. I like being the lone runner, passing all the diners, commuters and shoppers. It makes me feel a little bit superior actually, like I have a higher purpose.

While they wander home in a post-spreadsheet daze or gurgle down wine I am focused on my breathing, where my feet should land and which direction I need to head to avoid peds and maintain my momentum. All the pain is gone now. I’m in control. Very “yoga”, very “zen”. Where’s Mr. Miyagi?

Clock stops at: 36:57.

I almost started a second lap but didn’t want to push it. What were those three rules for newbs?

Run slower than you think you should.

Run more often than you think you should.

The time might not have been a PB but was still pretty good considering the weeks of punishment I’d just dished out on my body. I decided not to get fussy and take off the 15 seconds I lost waiting for traffic. I’ll need that later, when getting faster becomes much harder! 🙂

The good thing about setting a quick time on the year’s first run? My yearly-average pace looks much quicker than it should! 😀