I've been lacking in my blogging duties lately and I know it. I'd get home after a day at the Fish Factory, or if not working doing the usual catch, chilling, maintenance things and have no idea of what I'd write. As Elmore Lenard said in order to be a writer you should write everyday. It's a lot easier said than done. Ideas and events just don't grow on trees, get plucked off and then matured into some kind of wonderful bit of prose. However, even if I've lacked motivation and somehow stuck a red hot poker up my arse to get me to write something I have tried at the time to make it as clear and readable as possible. So this paragraph is just for me and no one else, but you're not going to know it until you've got to the end of it. Tough titty.
I woke up this morning and saw my belly. I thought back to the days when I was a kid. Those were some dusty memories, lots of cobwebs, I blew the dust off and recall how I used to think. As a kid I could never understand how people got fat. Be it other fat kids and there were not many of them about those days, or adults. I even thought the adults were greedy, fat people and looked on them in a derogatory way. Nowadays, now I am fat it's an eye opener. It creeps up and before you know it the clothes which used to fit you. Which were quite nice ones just don't. The size I have to shop for has gone up. At one time it actually was size small. Bloody hell. Small. Now I contemplate whether I should toy with the extra large just so there would be a little extra room in the clothes after they have been shrunk in the wash. But I haven't yet. So while staring at my belly and thinking all week long I had been desperately trying to fit some gym in and intended to go running, I made the decision I would go running this morning. In fact straight away. So I did.
There's a lot of difference from running on a treadmill to being able to run freely. The treadmill is quite predictable, it's pace is guaranteed, whatever pace you program into it. The belt doesn't deviate in this respect. However, when outside running I don't run at a constant pace, it varies according to the surface and other obstacles in the way. Road running is said to be the easiest running to do. Pavements are uniform and they are hard. Their hardness allows your feet to predictably bounce back and there is a shock factor as each step impacts on the pavement. Something it is easy to get used to. Running shoes are made so to help you run easier and either bounce back off pavement or to cushion the impact. The predictable foot fall allows you to set a comfortable pace. Running on any other softer surface is going to take more effort. The most difficult to run on is sand, it absorbs every impact so it takes more energy to lift up your leg. Sand, wet soggy grass and inclines sort the men from the boys. Running in the park can be enjoyable, the birds the trees, fresh air they not only give you a lift they take you back to nature, they're destressors. Except for dogs, dog shit, and youths who may want to harass you. But then getting up early in the morning can help to avoid some of these factors.
After the run and a wash, there is a period of calmness which descends. This is like hitting some kind of meditative state. As the brain releases chemicals and a natural high kicks in. It's very relaxing and probably one of the things which results in some people becoming addicts to exercise. I can see that. However, we are all human beings, animals really, but unlike any other animal we don't have to run about to avoid predators or work too hard at making a living. Although it may not seem it at times.
With all the benefits exercise does bring with it, I've really got to get out there and be doing something. Only thing is to avoid dogs who want to join me or leave little parcels of smelly stuff, kids who think it's fun to taunt a fat man running and the weather. Which is always unpredictable.
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