The Cool Impossible

Last year March (aka start of first lockdown) a colleague and friend - who to this day I have still only met once - asked whether I would like to join her on a journey to do a running programme. I think her words were ‘it will be fun dude’. I was just coming out of six months of limited exercise after a bicycle accident and had done some early morning walks and a bit of yoga with A, but I thought why not. We ended up doing the whole programme (2 x 12 weeks with rest in between) documenting progress on Strava and by December we completed the journey. I never thought I would run half marathon distance but during the time I did. It was epic. So we decided to do it again. Me still from the UK and her from her posting in South Sudan (and sometimes Cape Town).

Before starting, and half way through, one does two tests. One to determine you best time to run one mile (I have had to begrudgingly convert from km’s) and one to determine your max heart rate running 20 minutes as ‘fast and steadily’ as you can. They push you to your appropriate edge but I was pleased to know not all the fitness had been lost. I was somewhere between the first and second tests from last year.

Anyway, next week we begin the #thecoolimpossible journey again and I look forward to it. And everyday I am grateful to be able to go for a run. Something I (try to) never take for granted. Hopefully I can keep up strength exercises in between this time to avoid any injury.