Running and feeling fit

What do these films have in common?  The Naked Prey (1966), The Games (1970),  The Marathon Man (1976) and Apocolypto (2006).  It's quite easy.  In each film the main character takes on a role where they are running, in some cases it is for their life.  As I sit watching Apocolypto the actors are running, they are finely tuned running machines.  It is good to see how well their stamina keeps them going.  When I was running half marathons I got to this stage.  The fastest time I did one in was 1 hour 26 minutes.  When I look at it now it is a pretty respectable time with the possible notion I could of done a sub 3 hour marathon.  Some feat.  I once did a half marathon at Windsor Great Park and the first three miles were each done at a six minute pace.  I couldn't believe it.  There is nothing like the feeling of running well and knowing your breathing feels good, knowing your muscles can take it and having a buzz, it feels very natural.  At the end of the run I'd be knackered especially so when racing.  However, there would also be a great calmness descend. Breathing would then slow down and feel as if I didn't need much air at all. At peak performance the recovery was fast with barely any sore muscles the next day.  But being as fit as this took a lot of hard work, so to an extent it came at a cost.  Time and effort over years.  Then one day I just felt bored with it.  Bored with running.  Bored with looking so skinny because no matter what I ate, which was a lot I just burnt it all off.  Running four, five or more times per week.  Varying the runs in distance and surfaces it all burnt the calories being young people just thought of me as a skinny runt with no conception of the fitness level I had. 

When I began a run I would notice how it could take up to fifteen to twenty minutes to feel warmed up, only then getting to a point where my breathing reached a natural rhythm.  Once I didn't have to worry about gasping for air, it was a matter of occupying my mind.  When you no longer have to concentrate on the run your mind is free.  If you have a lot of emotions, anger, sadness anything at all, going on the run takes up so much energy and effort those feelings are lost.  It was a kind of therapy in this respect.  Then always, always at the end of the run is peace and calm.  Somehow getting undressed from a sweaty kit and having a wash was necessary burden.  Sleep to, could be an issue.  If I had overdone it then my heart would pound away as it does now when I over exercise and n it would be so difficult to sleep.  At some point in the very early morning I'd eventually relax but would have to shortly arise.  After I stopped running, within a couple of months I had put on a stone in weight.  I liked the filling out.  Then the fitness slowly went, that I didn't like but could do nothing about it.  Then as the years passed I become the fat man I am now.  With gym membership which does me no good as I go fewer times than ever before.  At least hitting the roads didn't cost anything.  There's one thing the government haven't taxed us on.  Not for now anyway.