After a week back in Manchester following my visit home to London and surrounding areas, it was time to set off again, this time a little further afield to visit a friend currently teaching English in Warsaw (Poland’s capital city). Another opportunity for running in a different place! It made me a little sad I’d not been blogging my runs a year ago, when I had visited the same friend when she was teaching in Dalian (People’s Republic of China), as well as people in Taiyuan (also China), Japan, Australia and New Zealand, all locations in which I ran round various parks and road routes. Perhaps one day I’ll write up my experiences on that trip anyway. At the time I was in training (kind of, as much as one can be whilst travelling) for my first half marathon. How quickly our perceptions of challenge change as we meet our goals and move on to the next! Anyway, back to Poland. I arrived late on Tuesday and it wasn’t long before the conversation turned to running. This time it wasn’t me who initiated the topic; I do try and avoid boring non-runners!
“You’re really into running now, eh?” asked my friend, Tammy… “How do you know when you’re ready to run a 5k or something?”
“You’re really into running now, eh?” asked my friend, Tammy… “How do you know when you’re ready to run a 5k or something?”
| Ah-ha! A little chink of interest upon which to leap! After suggesting that it was usually a case of building up to the distance slowly and starting on slow run/walk sessions, I tentatively suggested that we could do a run together. Imagine my delight when what I expected to be the ‘So, will I wake you up if I get up at 6 to go for a run? How do I get back in to the flat? Where’s the park?’ conversation turned into the ‘What time shall we go for a run in the morning then?’! We chose local park Pole Mokotowskie and decided to walk there (about 20 minutes) as a warm up before I demonstrated a few gentle stretches (outside a distinctive American style diner; an easy landmark should I come back again on my own!). We set off at a gentle jog. Tammy had already told me she had been running a little bit and that she preferred to go early in the day, which suited me, especially as it was very warm during my visit (it was already 20oC!). “We can go a bit faster if you like?” she asked. Heavy legged still from the previous night’s flight I was quite happy taking it easy (and suspected she might struggle sooner if we went any faster) so I politely declined and we settled at a steady 6 mph/10 minute mile. After enjoying a gentle lap of the park, I checked the distance we had covered. Tammy was going strong and having assumed she would struggle more following her defensive accounts of her recent running, I wanted to give her a bit of a boost if possible. After one lap we had covered 1.6 miles so just one more would mean she had run even further than 5k, a fact I thought might come as a bit of a surprise. “I think we should do just one more time round.” I stated, and she was happy to keep going. After a brief walk about 1/3 of the way into the second loop (Yes, it really is OK to stop and walk for a bit!) she picked it back up again and finished strong. “You just ran more than 5k!” I was pleased to relate. We walked home to cool down whilst pleasantly planning the rest of our day together in a happy post-run glow! I'm sure a sunny breakfast of polish blueberries on the balcony looking out over the city and watching the swifts swooping and diving for their own breakfast would have tasted good anyway but the after-run affect on the taste buds, made it even more tasty!  A Post-run Breakfast View! |  The start of the run; The Home of Happy People!  A Mid-run View   A post-run stroll to the Old Town |
 Frog Race! A short trip but a very enjoyable one and now I know I have a new running buddy I am thinking Warsaw might not be a bad location for a European race… Probably not the Warsaw marathon this September but maybe it will be possible to find a 5 or 10k that we can run together. I have yet to register for a race outside the UK but I think that will definitely be one of my next goals! Last but not least, a quick piece of good news that helped dispel the post-hol blues... | I returned to Pole Mokotowskie for a morning run on each day of my stay and Tammy came with me once more too. Of course there were other highlights of the trip and I very much enjoyed exploring the city, especially the Old Town. We also spent one afternoon walking in a forest just outside the city in Kabaty, where I noticed a poster for a 10k Frog Race! No idea what the connection to frogs was but I’d have loved to know. If it hadn’t been the same day as the UK RunChat challenge in Bolton, or the day before the City of Salford 10k, I’d have been sorely tempted to come back and find out! On my last day, I spent some time in the National Museum and was surprised but rather chuffed to recognise the story of Atalanta depicted stooping to collect the golden apple dropped by Hippomenes during their race. She had refused to marry any man who couldn’t outrun her in a footrace and this was the method by which Hippomenes eventually tricked her into losing to him! Typical!  Atalanta & Hippomenes, Willem van Herp, 1614 - 1677 |
 | You may remember that back in June, I mentioned I had been too late to submit a photo of one of my favourite running routes in Manchester (along the River Irwell) to the Runner's World City Rave Run competition. I shared the photo anyway and you can see it on the 8th June post. Well, a week or so back I spotted that the competition had reopened so bunged the piccy back out there for the sake of it... I had forgotten all about it until I received a message from Runner's World on the evening I got home telling me I'd won the first week of the competition! Result! You can see it on their competition blog! |
