Guest Post: October... by Pat Walsh

 * October *

We enter October and the Summer is behind us. The best of the year may be past but there is still life in what is left. Many runners are turning their focus towards Dublin or one of the many marathons that populate the Autumn. For others it is a case of finding the motivation to keep running as the days grow shorter. Patrick Kavanagh always had a good line in poetry and his ‘October’ poem is no exception.

‘O leafy yellowness you create for me,

A world that was and now is poised above time,

I do not need to puzzle out Eternity’

It can be a beautiful time of the year to run as the cooler weather is much nicer after the heat we had this Summer. No danger of heat exhaustion or dehydration. The colours in the trees and hedges, the birdsong from the brambles. I do miss those long runs this time of year when I was training for marathons. Fantastic early Saturday morning runs were the highlight of many a week. Now my early Saturdays are course check on my bike for the parkrun. But I love it.

Kavanagh also used the poem to compare October to the current phase of his life. The best might be behind but who knows what lies ahead. I can empathise with that as while I would love to run another marathon I know that my body wouldn’t take the training program required. I cut my cloth to suit and have found peace and acceptance in shorter runs. It takes a change of mentality but it is better to be running short runs that pushing the body until it is crocked. NCT – Fail isn’t much good as a medical diagnosis.

‘It is October over all my life’

I would encourage everyone to just keep going. Don’t be drawn into something that could do damage to you or make you lose the love of running. Saying NO can be a sign of maturity. It actually only took me 60 years to discover that. Who knows what lies ahead next week, next year but I do intend making the best of it. Just attending and taking part, mixing with like minded runners, swapping stories and having fun. Birth-cert age is one number, mental attitude has a different measuring tool. There will be good winter wheat in my life. There are other challenges to be conquered. Life is what you make of it, don't waste it.  

‘It is October over all my life and the light is staring
As it caught me once in a plantation by the fox coverts.
A man is ploughing the ground for winter wheat’

#pwr