Standards Slipping?

How quick do you lose fitness? I've had a very busy week and didn't manage to get training on either Tue or Thur. I also had to miss today's Neville 10 road race, which I'm raging about. The Harriers have posted pictures from the race on their facebook page, and it looks like there was a big crowd, and they all seemed to enjoy themselves. I'm not going to be available for the next 5 Sunday's as I've taken on a new project, which I'll let you all know about soon enough. I'm stepping out of my comfort zone yet again, risking a little embarrassment for the sake of loads of craic, meeting new people and learning new skills. As I said, I'll expand on it later, but for now, I'll keep it under wraps.

After only running once in the last 10 days, I thought it was important that I got out for a run today. I watched the All Ireland Football Final, and then went for a run. I didn't have any particular distance, or time in mind when I set off, in fact I changed my mind on what route I'd run at nearly every junction. First, I thought I'd run in the country, then decided I'd stay in Town. Thought about running along the banks of the Canal, Charleville, and maybe even the Neville 10 course that I missed out on earlier. In the end I just ran around the town. A growing need to visit the bathroom after about 30 minutes, showed this to be a wise decision. My running style from that point home, would have been an interesting study! I finished my run in 50 min exactly, without any idea of how far I'd gone, or what pace I'd been going. My legs were finding it tough, but my breathing was alright. I didn't think I was doing that well, and was wondering what impact not training for the few days was having. It was really starting to bug me, as I was having a bath, so once I got dressed, I drove around the route, to discover it was 7.9 km, Almost 5 miles, which means my average pace was 10 minute miles. That's not too bad, but I did miss running with others. I know I'm great craic and all, but I can be hard to listen to, when I'm the only one doing the talking. ( please note: I don't actually talk when running on my own, that would be too weird, but there is a dialog going on in my head!)

The other standard I don't want to let slip is the blogging. Thanks for still reading and for the nice comments. Since I've started writing, I've made loads of contacts online, including Celeste White, an American woman, who is going for a run every day of her 40th year. She started at her 39th birthday in August, and is posting a picture every day from her run. She's not running with any particular race, distance or time as a goal, Celeste is just running for the joy of it. Best of luck to her, and I'm looking forward to following her progress. Her blog is www.running39to40.blogspot.com. I enjoy hearing from people who are reading this, so please leave  a comment, and let me know how you're getting on, or what you're up to. Hopefully, I'll be posting next Tuesday, so until then, Slán.