I love timehop. I get to get nostalgic about my babies, it shows me things I was up to that I had totally forgotten about and it shows me progress on running too. Sure, sometimes it shows me that are hard to look at, like my beautiful cat but I still like to see her even if it hurts.
One thing that it has taught me about running is that there are less coincidences than you’d think.
1) I am always slow in February
It just feels hard, doesn’t it? Wading through never-ending humidity of hades. 26 degrees is not an acceptable 5am temperature. And you never get to cool down over night so it feels like your core temperature is constantly raised at a level somewhere in between gross and disgusting.
2) I always get sick in February. Or do I?
Every year I get sick in February and it is really hard to shake. I don’t feel awful after I get over the first couple of days, but I don’t really get better either. And then I get into the second week and I twig that I’m not sick, I’m iron deficient. After having spent the last three months sweating out my iron in the dank humidity of hell (see point one), my body needs a helping hand. Then I take some supplements and I almost feel better overnight.
3) It doesn’t matter how hot it is, I’ll still drink copious amounts of coffee.
Really, I drink coffee for your protection, not mine.
4) One morning you will be out and although it is 1000% humidity and you keep finding new body parts that chaffe, you get a sense of it. A certain crispness to a pocket of air that tells you Autumn is coming. And then you remember you actually like to run, really.
If there’s one time I can lose the love for running, it’s February. I’ve just done a good two months of Summer, usually my training runs are getting longer so I’m having to be out there in it for much longer and I’m just well over it. The promise of Autumn gets me through. Autumn running is my favourite. Just thinking about it can get me through the next couple of weeks.
5) For some reason you still think it’s a good idea to do long run day after leg day.
Ouch. That is all.
Thankfully nothing lasts forever, not even February.