by Martina Passman
Hello to all you fellow running people out there!
Maybe you read the piece that I wrote about how, where, when and why I started running?
Well, I'm nearly six months a 'Fit for Lifer' now,and I'm going to send in a report to this site every now and then about how all this running is working for me - or not.
If you stand on the prom in Salthill and look out on to the bay - across to Blackhead point - jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, that's where I spent my time running last week and it was fabulous. Fanore,Co.Clare is a place very, very special to me. But that's one of them stories where you would need to put the kettle on.
Early in the morning - when the world was still asleep - I took off on my early morning run. Four miles along the foot of the Burren mountains would be enough.The first kilometre or so is always a bit uncomfortable. Do you find that? It takes a while to get your pace, to get your breathing under control. You are struggling with the heat, but then it happens. My body settles into the run. I'm warm and there's a rhythm between my breathing and my steps. I lift my head and take a look at the stunning view.
The Burren Mountains sweeping down into the Mediterranean blue sea. Isn't our country fabulous when the sun shines? I draw the soft morning air deep into my lungs and then it seems everything is well with the world. Just me and the road - perfect!
Two days later I did a six-mile run along the same route - all at an easy enough pace - it almost felt that I could just keep on running and running. Do you ever feel like that? If you don't yet, don't worry, you will. The peace and quiet there under the mountains is so good. The only sound you can hear is the tapping of your runners on the road, your lungs drawing in the fresh sea air.
Isn't that a little bit of Heaven?
When I was a teenager,our
When I was a teenager,our coach had a mobile home down there and he used to bring us down for weekend training sessions. We would go for an easy 5 or 6mls on the Friday evening taking in the beach, dunes and road. On Saturday morning we would do a session of repeat's on the dunes, by were they tough, but fun in a sadistic sort of way !
We would normally squeeze in another few miles on Saturday evening.
Then on Sunday's we would do 11mls on the road, I think we would head up towards Black Head and back.
I still remember in the morning opening the door of the caravan and rabbits scattering everywhere, and that was close on 30yrs ago now !!