The buzz of running
Hi Enrico,
Wow! You guys train hard! I'm so impressed with your friend Ernesto for running 27 marathons! He must be incredibly fit! How many marathons have you run? Are you getting anywhere close to Ernesto's 27?
I've run four marathons (, , and ) back between 2000 and 2003.
I stopped running a few years ago when I injured my knee and although I like biking, I do still miss the buzz of running.
Not matter how long or far I ran I always found the first five or siz kilometres really hard. What part of your training runs do you find hard – the beginning, the middle or the end? I used to find that once I'd got into the swing of a training run, I could run for hours, but those first 30 minutes were always the killer for me.
I was never a particularly fast runner but what I liked most about running was being out and about in the world. I used to run along an old canal and loved the way my mind would just float above the running and I'd start to have really creative and interesting thoughts (well, they were interesting to me!). What is it about running that you like the best? What do you particularly like about running?
I love all the pictures you post. It makes me remember all those long weekend runs when I was in training. And that cup of coffee at the end! I bet that tastes good!
I though we'd look at a couple of aspects of your grammar from your posts: 1) the present simple and 2) keeping your writing in the same tense.
In English we can use the present simple (I run, she/he/it runs, we/they/you run) to talk about habits, things we do regularly or routines. Your Sunday training runs fall into this category because it's something you do regularly, so this is the perfect time to use the present simple. For example, you said:
1) I'm checking my runner shoes
2) We are planning 01:00 hour of basic training
3) We joking all the time
But since you do these things almost every Sunday, it would be better to say:
1) I check my running shoes
2) We plan an hour of basic training
3) Can you figure out what you should say for this one?
In English we usually keep our writing in the same tense in one paragraph unless there's a reason to change tenses. We can move from the past simple to the past perfect to show that one action happened before another one. For example, I was on the bus (past simple) when I realised (past simple) that I had left my umbrella (past perfect) at home. But in general, if we start in one tense, we usually stick with it in one paragraph. Let's look at the verbs one of your paragraphs:
We run in the countryside. Alberto is in front of me with a good pace. Then I took a photo of some amateur cyclists we come across by chance.
There are two past simple verbs and two present simple verbs. Since you're talking about what happened last week, the past simple tense would be better for all of your verbs. Can you see how you could improve this paragraph now?
Looking forward to hearing from you again soon.
All the best,
Nuala
Vocabulary
fit – someone who is healthy and who does a lot of exercising regularly
the buzz – the exciting or good feeling
got into the swing of – got used to something
the killer – the most difficult part of something
out and about – outside (not inside in your house)
stick with it – continue with it, don't change from it
Comments
Hello Nuala. I think you should start running again, and I dare tell you this because of my own experience. When I was in my mid-fortieth, I had a surgery in the femur's neck of my right leg. In the same year I was diagnosed with patellofemoral sydrome and arthrosis in the iner meniscus of the knee joint of the same leg. Apart from that, I already had scoliosis and lordosis of the spine. About three years after that I decided to start running, and I have been running almost every day since then "for seven years". I have to tell you that I don't run very fast, but this doesn't matter to me, my goal is to keep my body fit, and I really ejoy it. I can't dream of running a marathon, but in a fortnight I'm going to run my very first half marathon. See you soon.
Hi Naula I love running and I have take part in some small running matches between my women colleagues inside my office or between other work women in my small city although non of them weren't so professional as being in a marathon . I think it will be so hard and demands lots of pre training to take part in such a public running match . I admire you to be an active and energetic women to take part in such Marathons . Good on you ! I live in a small city in north west of Iran which is almost near to mountain and it 's so called to be very cool in summer and very cold in winter . But I think as a result of Global warming , this year we have mild weather in the middle of winter ! like some thing you have two years ago in UK ( I remember from Mr keeler Blogs ) at the same time we had a very cold and freezy weather in Iran , there were Gas cut off in some cities and thousands of passengers were stuck in some roads for many days ! . Actually we have almost one serious snow fall ! I 'll be off to return home . So have a nice day and enjoy your weekend .
Hi Nuala. You reminds me the British lady who once won the São Silvestre female marathon in Brazil. She was behind all the time. At the end she looked at her clock and started running faster so easily while the others were so tired. It was incredible the way she won. I had an ankle injury when I used to play volley so it's impossible for me to run because of the pain I feel but I like walking and I think I'll stick with it. It also makes my mind float.
Hi Nuala! What do you think about Paco´s proposal after having such bad weather there in London? Paco is a lucky man living at the sea. Almost all his diagnosess are mine,too, but I do not see how to implement running into my daily shedule, except very early morning when I sleep sweetly. I am out on the walk each weakends´ afternoons at any little bearable weather often other days,too, but when I just climb up all who I meet are m o s t l y men cycling or running on their way back yet. I think men´s daily shedule looks their own priorities mainly. Enjoy yourself!
Hi Naula . thank you for your advices.
Hi Nuala, nice to talk to you. I would like to be a runner too. But I have a lot of difficulty keeping the pace. I feel too tired. I know we've got to have patience and train that this resistance will come with time but I was never persistant enough to get to this stage. I have a friend who runs 6 km every day. She is a teacher and she said that ever since she started doing that her quality of life improved a lot. Maybe I'll set this as my new year resolution and start running myself. Or maybe walking will be good progress for me. Anyway, what makes it difficult for us here are temperatures which are very high. So if we want to do any physical exercises we must do it very early in the morning or late in the afternoon. I've got to stop being so lazy. Bye for now. See you soon.
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