So a sub 40 minute 10k run... this year... before my birthday...
First,
let me say this...
This is NOT a New Year's resolution.
It is not that I do
not believe in the implementing of life improvement goals around the arbitrary,
but nevertheless beautifully rounded, numbers at the start of a calendar year;
it is just that this is very much a singular challenge, one with a clearly
defined end date, and one, which I reserve the right to look back on with
wizened bitterness in years to come.
Secondly, this is NOT a typical 40 before 40,
pseudo-bucket list.
I have achieved a number of lifelong ambitions in recent years, so could not be bothered to generate another 40 goals just for the hell of it, also I have absolutely no intention
of dying abruptly on my 40th birthday (exertions of the challenge notwithstanding), as I have run many 10k races
before and, health permitting, will continue to do so long into the future.
But that is just it "health permitting"
Truth is, I was born with a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD)
which is a hole in the heart, a (not insignificant) cardiac issue that has led to clubbing of my
finger nails, shortness of breath and inefficient circulation... I then developed childhood asthma, which has led to hospitalisations and asthma attacks (most recently in January 2015)... and then in November 2012 was diagnosed with
Myasthenia Gravis, an autoimmune condition characterised by the onset of chronic muscle weakness, with the occasional side-effect of death...
These three
conditions could very well coalesce into a perfect storm, that would make holding down a 9to5 job
difficult, let alone the aforementioned endurance based cardiovascular exercise , but I have been so very lucky so far, and insomuch as I am a stubborn little article, I have not
allowed any of my health issues stop me keeping fit.
In
2014 I registered my fastest 10k to date, at 43mins and 42seconds and so a sub
40min time at the peak of my powers is not THAT much of a leap.
But there it is again “health permitting” at
the “peak of my powers”, this is doable, but these are looming caveats that I have come to truly understand
in the last 12 months, as due to age and complications with my
Myasthenia my health deteriorated and my ability to complete the distance was taken away.
On the 31st of December 2016, I got out to running again for the first time in several months and set myself my first 10k time in 2016, 56mins and 34seconds...
In the elation of that moment, still high from the return of endorphins, the challenge struck me, can I get back to fully fit before my birthday? And from fully fit, can I set a new personal best over the distance from this (rather pedestrian) mark?
Why not try? The worst that can happen is that I will get into shape and have something to write about...
