The gf of the marshmallow man

16th May 2012

Eureka! Hazzah! Yippee! I have finally got out running again! The bad weather is over (I've run in rain before, but never in El Nino) and my knee is no longer hurting.

My time however, has not been completely wasted; I bought a book on running anatomy so that I can identify which muscles need to be strengthened to prevent/treat an injury, I have been using my Kettlebell DVD and I have been following Slimming World. No weight lost however. Go figure.

My weight I have spoken about before - about how there was an initial unexplained weight-gain followed by depression about my weight which caused me to comfort-eat (ironic, I know) and then the crash dieting and now my current position. I am still not convinced however that I do not have a thyroid problem. I checked out the symptoms on-line and I have the following:

1. Feeling cold (I have to sit wrapped in a blanket even when I am wearing a hoodie and the central heating is on. This continues even when the fire is lit and the thermometer states that it is 26C)
2. Weight Gain (duh!)
3. Depression (had it)
4. Dry Skin and hair (the skin, yes definitely. The hair, no as I really look after it).

I was initially going to go to the Dr within the next week but given how they have reacted in the past, I thought that I would present them with the evidence. Basically I'm going to keep a detailed food diary, am exercise log and record any weight loss. I think that if my weight still registers the same as it is now, they will have to listen to me. There is one woman who I have been chatting to on-line and she convinced her doctor to treat her on her symptoms. Maybe I could do that?

Anyway. It's only about 8 weeks away from 'Race for Life'. I have so far, raised £95! I am aiming to jog around the whole course but will settle for half-hour of jogging and then some walking if that is what I can manage.

The run back out was not as bad as I thought that it would be:

• Gone is the UV-day-glow-orange running-jacket. With the sun comes a lighter jacket....in blue! So now, I am no longer the UV-day-glow-orange girlfriend of Marshmallow man. Now I am the light-blue-running-jacket-girlfriend of the Marshmallow man. Yay to me for moving up in the world!
• I didn't expect my first run back to be a breeze and boy, it wasn't! I stopped about 3-seconds before the end of two runs, ran for only 5-seconds on another and then finished about 10-seconds before the end of my very last run. All in all, it actually wasn't bad.
• My bad habits have come back in the form of slouching and hunching. Once I realised, I made a conscious effort to rectify this.
• My speed has increased! I know that people say that you should stick to a light jog and not over-exert yourself and yes, whilst this is indeed true, I couldn't help thinking that running as slow as I was, was as detrimental to my progress as running too fast. It's kind of hard to explain but I figured that a lot of my energy was going into taking small steps and that this wasn't allowing my muscles to work against the resistance of the pavement and strengthen up. I decided that I would jog at a pace that felt natural to me and see if I could keep to up. Which I could. Go me.

Basically, although there were runs that I didn't finish, there were also runs that I wanted to finish early but I managed to talk myself into keeping running. I didn't expect miracles but was surprised at what I have achieved today and that is not to be sniffed at. Basically, I am pretty pleased with myself and am feeling pumped for my next run on Friday.