Geek

Wednesday 30th June 2010

Let me start today’s post with one exciting word: iPad.

(Yes, I know this is a Running Blog… I will get to the running part in a minute, I promise!)

My beautiful, gorgeous, amazing, long-awaited, long-anticipated iPad arrived in the post yesterday afternoon.

Did I get a chance to play with it?
No.
Did I get a chance to play with it today?
No.

This is what happens when you have three wonderful children all needing varying degrees and types of attention. (Am I complaining? No.)

So… this evening I was faced with a choice. Children all in bed(ish), husband otherwise occupied(ish)… do I play with my new toy? Or go for a RUN?

Decisions, decisions.

I go for a run! This is so out of character for me… I am a geek to the core, and get very excited about new technology – I was ITCHING to play with my iPad! This running business must be getting addictive!

So, feeling very virtuous, I set off on my new favourite 5 mile circuit over the Medway Viaduct. It was fairly late evening by now and the sun was low and red in the sky, making fabulous views over the river. I was feeling good (no knee pain) and fairly flew along, especially on the downhill stretches. I really pushed myself, to try and beat my previous time of 54:25 minutes.

(I think the fact that my iPad was at home, just waiting to be played with, was extra motivation, and lent me wings!)

In my last post I contemplated “running etiquette” and whether or not to make eye-contact or greet other runners. My “proper” running friend Dave Bertie (husband of Katie Bertie, mentioned in earlier posts) responded, advising me to just raise one hand in greeting. I almost tried this when passing a runner, but it just didn’t feel quite right… maybe it’s a “guy thing”? I smiled instead! Perhaps I’ll try the hand-raising next time…

Anyway, on top of the viaduct I couldn’t resist the view and sacrificed 20 seconds or so to snap a quick photo with my iPhone. The breeze was gorgeous and I would have loved to stay longer.

I pushed myself round the rest of the circuit, struggling with the final uphill mile towards my house. It was worth it… my time was 49:19, a whole 5 minutes faster than before!

I know this is still a pretty poor time, but this running lark is all about the journey (pun intended) and is a work in progress – I will improve!

And, I’m happy to report, I finally got to have a good play on my iPad whilst ice-packing my knees after the run! I even downloaded some games apps and played iPad Othello with my husband, which was fab. Tomorrow, I think I’ll download iPad Scrabble. Does life get more exciting than this?

Distance run (in miles): 5.2
Total distance this week: 15.2
Total since starting blog: 49.9