Who is that bent figure lurching along a path? It’s me and I’m doing a Parkrun, only 5 kilometers, and I’ve slowed down to a shuffle and even so I end up halting and walk-running to the end at an overall pace that shames me. That was a fortnight ago.
All my running goals for Darwin, vague as they were, have floundered. I thought being away from pandemic and home hassles would let me move, over a month, from 5 kms at 6:45/km to maybe 8 kms at the same pace, maybe faster on Parkruns. Instead, in each phase (quarantine and after) I’ve struggled to even reach 5 kms at 7:00/km. After at last doing 5.6 kms without stopping on Wednesday, yesterday my left knee area was sore and puffy. I’ve missed 2 of the 4 Parkruns and part walked the others. Damn. Another restart.