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| Back to Greenwich Park, in rather less happy circumstances |
Day 277
Back to Gazelles after several weeks away, for hills and steps in dark, cold Greenwich Park. Home for breakfast feeling depleted. Cycle back up to Greenwich Park, lighter now, but colder, to 'coach' new mothers. Nervous exhaustion sets in. Cycle home, mentally and physically defeated
To be called 'an inspiration' many times on social media can go to one's head. The proud afterglow following yesterday's Guardian blog posting faded away when faced with the hectic reality of a busy Buggy Runners exercise class. Unlike at Southwark Park - where I coach three women, if I'm lucky, whose babies are either tiddlers or just very well behaved - this class comprised about 12 women of varying levels of fitness, toting babies of wildly varying ages. One baby started yelling very early on in the proceedings, setting off many of the others. The women didn't all stick together, they chatted, some sprinted off, others lagged behind looking pained, others stopped to breastfeed. I didn't seem to have authority, and was left on many occasions, just staring and wondering what they should do next. Luckily the coach's coach, Ellie Brown, was there to rescue me. She debriefed me kindly when all the women and their babies had gone away.
It was like herding cats. Far from being the 'inspirational' running role model I wrote myself into, the reality of my modelling was less than inspiring. So now I must practise what I preach. That's as much of a challenge as the prospect of running 26 sub 8:30 miles. I can do it. I will do it.
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