"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." -Theodore Roosevelt



Saturday 24 January 2015

Being scared… And looking like Edward Cullen*

*but not looking like Edward Cullen because of being tall / handsome / mysterious / pale… Well, maybe pale…

My running has been going pretty well lately, I wouldn’t say my legs are completely back to normal; I’m still susceptible to a tight IT band in my right leg. For anyone who has ever had IT band problems, then you’ll know how mind numbingly infuriating the pain that goes along with it is…

This has meant that whilst I’m increasing the number of times I’m running each week, I’ve been stuck on 4 miles… I’d set myself a target that by the end of January I would be running 10km again. I’m in danger of making the completion of this distance more of a mental thing than a physical thing. However, having struggled for so long to return to running pain free I’m bound to be a bit scared of breaking down again.

Anyway, it’s been pretty cold these last few weeks when I’ve been heading out, so, earlier in the week I dug out my running tights from the bottom of my draws and ‘suited’ up… Problem is, anything tight around my right knee causes IT band unhappiness, bummer dude!

However, I had a cunning plan; Vaseline! If it can protect my lips in these cold temperatures then it should help protect my legs from the chilly winds.

So on I smothered it, feeling very pleased with myself (not because it felt good to rub on, but because I was just a few wax on, wax off motions away from potentially being freeze proof).

Feeling satisfied that I could just as easily slide along the pavements as run, out the door I headed… I have a look down at my legs mid-flow and as the lamp posts emanate their luminous yellow-ness I’m glowing like a vampire from a teen movie! Granted, this could be a combination of the sweat and Vaseline, which we won’t dwell on for too long, but glow I did.

The good news is that Vaseline can officially be used to stop your thighs being turned into a white wind chilled set of ice blocks, and with that success under my belt, fingers crossed I’ll soon be glowing from having completed a 10km run before the month is out.

4 comments:

  1. I found this out by accident! I used vaseline to avoid chafing then found that just that part of my thighs were not cold!

    And it makes your legs all moisturised- Vaseline is a 3 way hero: warming, moisturising, chafe avoidant!

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    1. Yes! Even more reasons to use vaseline :) The only problem is when my non-funning friends see my tub of vaseline with finger shaped scoops taken out of it and start assuming what I'm using it for, rather than what I'm actually using it for...

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  2. Amazing!! I hope you took advantage of the slippiness and had a go on the kids' slides in a nearby playground! Wheeeee!

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    1. *Alters running route to pass a playground to go on the slides*

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