You’re at the back door. You can hear the wind and rain hitting outside, as you start lacing up your running shoes all the time thinking if this is really what you want to do. But it is of course. You’ve done this enough times to know that within a couple of minutes of your run, all those feelings of anxiety and whether you want to run or not have been left, literally at the back door.
Running = freedom, and being able to go out running, and not worry about whether the gym will be open or not, or trying to stick to class schedules is something I just don’t have to think about.
Going for a run for me is about blowing off stress, keeping fit, wanting to keep healthy and keep a healthy weight. There’s as many motivations and reasons as there are people out running, but for me, those are mine. Over time you can make running more pleasurable by investing in good quality clothing and especially running shoes. But, also technology helps keep me motivated, and there’s a part of me that likes to track as many metrics as possible as I run or cycle along. I run with a Garmin 955 watch that I can use to navigate me around, and has a large clear screen so I can see the speed I’m running and how long I’ve run. As soon as my shoes are on, and I’ve clipped on my running sensor to the back of my running shorts, and put on my heart rate meter, I am good to go. These connect up automatically to my Garmin and once I start either the ‘Trail Run’ or ‘Run’, depending on where I am running, everything connects and starts to synch. Later, I can look through the results, including the map of where I’ve just run, on the Garmin app, Connect on my phone or on the desktop.
So, where do I run? Well, I live in Portugal, just an hour north of Lisbon, the capital, in a village in the country called Bombarral. While it is close to the A8 motorway that connects Porto in the north, with Lisbon in the south, it is an area of country that is full of rolling hills and vineyards and fruit trees. If you’ve ever visited Italy’s Tuscany, then the area is very similar, with beautiful views around of the countryside. When we arrived, I went out for runs along the roads, but with very narrow pavement in places, and in others just the road, I wanted to find routes that were safer and more enjoyable to run. All around me are vineyards and fruit trees, and interconnecting all these are farm tracks. Looking on Google Maps at the satellite images of here, it’s easy to pick out routes and I’ve managed to put together long routes that take me all around the surrounding areas of Bombarral and Sanguinhal. Some of these farms produce fine wines, known outside of Portugal, and include Sanguinhal. This particular wine estate, puts on a 25 kms trail run every April, and this year I am taking part, in the 3rd edition.
Running through this countryside is different every time. I run at different times of the day, so it could be a night or early morning run. I’ll use a head torch, and on one run I was buzzed by an owl that flew over me and I could pick it out in the torch light. If you run now in the evening, you can hear the frog chorus, which can get quite loud. There’s lots of small birds, you can hear them singing as you run along, all types of finches and sparrows, sitting in the hedgerows and fruit trees. One tip I have, if you are interested in finding out what birdlife is around you, is the Merlin Bird ID app. Record the birds around you and the app identifies each. How cool is that. I’ve taken to stopping now and recording the birds as I run along, and have over 25 birds on my list so far. I love to be out in the nature. Running with headphones on just doesn’t work for me. I much prefer to hear the sounds of wildlife, than loud music. Though I’d say that when I run in a gym, when travelling, I like to listen to music then, just to make it more interesting, as there’s noting interesting running on a treadmill.
So, as I come to the end of my run, I’m thankful that I started it. That I didn’t let all those voices in my head talk me out of it, as they so often try to do. I am thankful that I have beautiful countryside to run through, and appreciate the nature all around me. In the end it isn’t an effort at all, just gratitude that I am able to go running in the first place, whatever the weather.
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