We're not in Kansas anymore

The left foot hits the pavement and a jolt travels up through your body and lodges itself in your head. Internal checks reveal that you are just about fine. The right foot then follows the left and on you go, except that every step feels like it might be your last. Gone is the vision of yourself as a super fit runner, fearlessly negotiating parks and pavements like they are your own territory. The 'King of the Road' had been replaced with a heaving, creaking, sweaty panting mess who is desperately trying to keep up with the person in front.

We’re not in Kansas any more Toto. We are firmly out of THE COMFORT ZONE.

One of the big lessons learnt whilst rowing was that however much you push yourself, usually there is that little bit more you are able to  get out of yourself -That extra stroke, the extra reach at the catch, the powerful send at the finish. If the seven other people in the boat give that bit extra at the same time it can make the difference between victory and defeat. You learn to inhabit 'the dark place' that is giving everything you’ve got. It wasn’t until I learnt that it was not something to be afraid of that achieved a long held ambition of breaking 7 minutes for the 2k Erg Test.

Running has always tended to be a different beast for me. You tend to pretty much always know your limits. You have speeds that you keep as reference points for different race lengths. As you build more mileage into your legs, these speeds may get quicker, but the change tends to be a drift rather than a step-change.

The fact that these limits have got quicker over the years meant that I’ve never been that hungry to push on for that step change. Indeed, it can seem unneccessary as one of the things I love about running is that you’re always conscious of how far you’ve come since those first shuffly steps.

But Thursday was different. An unexpected 8 mile tempo run that really pushed you into ‘the dark place’. And you know what? After I’d stopped beating myself up, calmed down, got home and sat in the bath, I realised how good it had been for me.

I’m a creature of habit, and if I can do the same thing, building up a routine, I'll love it. So someone else doing something unannounced that I don’t necessarily agree with, is going to cause consternation in my head. 

I think, as you get tired, you tend to warp your sense of reality.

“Everyone else is sailing along. How can they be chatting when my lungs are trying to come up through my throat? Everyone else is finding it an easy gentle bloody jog!”

Rubbish of course. Well maybe not completely, but I went to run with people who are faster than me and so I reap what I sow. Maybe I need to visit ‘the dark place’ more often - I think I’ll find that it’s actually filled with light. The Light of Progress and possibly that step-change that can seem so elusive at times.

I often joke that people should #gohardorgohome but actually I’m not a fan of leaving my comfort zone a lot of the time. 

That changes from now on.

I’m not claiming I’m going to change the world, but I am going to buy a one way ticket out of THE COMFORT ZONE more often.