Running Resolutions

As I started to recover from the seeming-permanent Christmas and New Year Holiday hangover (around 2pm on Sunday 4th afternoon...) and I began to clear the huge area of my kitchen floor covered with empty bottles, it came to me. Somewhere in the haze of alcohol and food, I had made some New Year's Resolutions.

This year, it's simple. Write every day. Run once every two days. No Booze for one month.

I also realised that I had accepted/allowed myself to fix on the 4th January as a clean-up day, and that 5th January would be the starting day for exercise. Fine! Start the year afresh!

As I scootered home from work this 5th Jan evening, banging my hands against the handlebars because they were frozen despite two sets of gloves, I felt my resolve turn, Bridget Jones-like, to cold jelly. "It's really cold, David. Maybe you will get yourself sick. Work out a plan to start tomorrow. It's the first day back at work, give yourself a break..." etc, etc...

Luckily, the night before I had read a bit more of Haruki Murakami's book on running - his words on Focus and Concentration reminded me to keep to my plan. I find him very inspiring.

Then (to take my mind off my frozen feet) I thought about the real meaning of a "Resolution". I was pretty sure the true meaning comes from Latin and I checked at home in my Latin-English Dictionary to find that the root word Resolvere can mean many things, but the translation I like most is "Gain Release From". Any New Year's Resolution seems an attempt to break out of a pattern or habit, and mine this year are no different.

And, yes, even though it was minus one degree, and even though I haven't run for a month, and even though I was tired, I ran 5km. Not that far, I know, but still - I ran. I even enjoyed it in a cold, masochistic "I'll show you" sort of way. Yes - I stuck to my resolution! Better have a drink to celebrate... Orange Juice, of course.

The goal is to get back to where I was able to run half marathons under 1 hour 50 . Let's see if my Focus, Concentration and Resolve are enough in 2009.