Guest Post: Still crazy after all these years... Pat Walsh

 * Still crazy after all these years *

It is 7am Saturday Morning and I’m sitting in my kitchen having some breakfast. I pull the curtains and look at a beautiful full moon about to disappear in the sky as dawn approaches. There is a link between insanity and the occurrence of a full moon which has been depicted in writing through the years but hey I’m ok, I’m sane, I got out of a warm bed early on a cold dark January morning to run 10 miles. Nothing wrong here….. I think.

Breakfast of champions, a bowl of Bran Flakes and a cup of tea and we are sorted. A D.J. on the radio plays some Miley Cyrus and the buzz is starting.

‘I was born to run, I don't belong to anyone, oh no’

Then the dreaded.. What will I wear?

Shoes are easy. Breaking in a new pair of Brooks to be ready for Dungarvan 10 next week. They are grand so far and today will be a good test of them. I will save the Nike AlphaFly 3’s until my next sub 2 marathon attempt. I bet Kitchum or Kipchoge don’t have to run on roads where farmers are drawing beet from the fields and leaving lumps of muck everywhere.

Socks as always are one of the unmatched running pair we get for completing Beat the Train every year. ‘Same but different’ is the motto and today we are yellow and blue. Up the SRR gang.

It MUST be leggings. It is cold and still winter. These legs could never take the shock of being exposed to the elements. This has to done gradually and only when the sun is shining. The poor people of East Cork have suffered enough with a glimpse of snow white, never exposed for months legs.

Now the toughie. Long sleeve / tshirt combo. Tshirt / jacket combo. Long sleeve / jacket combo. Could tie the jacket around me if it gets too warm but that isn’t a ‘cool image’. But get a grip I haven’t been ‘cool’ this century so why worry about it now.

Check the weather App on the phone. 7degrees with a real feel of 3degrees with strong wind from the South. If they can calculate that then why can’t someone build an app for runners to tell us what to actually wear… At least then we would have something to blame if it went wrong.

Jacket it is, with gloves and woolly cap in the pockets to cover all bases.

Last, but not least, but of vital importance… a rub of vaseline on the lips. You couldn’t be running the risk of chapped lips at this time of the Year. No shades required today. 

So off for the run. How did it go?

Super, Brilliant… we are runners, we are fantastic, we can tackle anything -- as long as we are dressed for it--. 

The morning was nice, the company was better, the feeling when we finished just super. The miles rolled by, nice easy and the chats. No medals given out today with a 10 mile race next week. 

‘Keep the powder dry’. 

10 miles done before 10am and the day ahead of us. #awesome

Sanity is vastly over-rated. We run for our mental health. Imagine how mad we would be if we didn’t run. 

Moral of the story. It will always be grand so don’t be overthinking it. Run for fun.

'But I would not be convicted by a jury of my peers
Still crazy after all these years
Oh, still crazy
Still crazy
Still crazy after all these years'

#pwr