Scarlet Runner by crooxi

The end of the first week of '2012 in 2012' (the km version) found me with 51.13 km (or 31.77 miles, in 'old money') notched up. Even allowing for the fact that 14 km of this was 'just' walking, this is quite a lot for me. It did help that this was a week with 2 1/2 days free at the beginning of it - I think it's going to be harder in the next few weeks, and I will have to scale it down a bit (I'm thinking 30-ish). We have another premiere (a world premiere, in fact) at the end of January, and then take it to Hamburg for a few days at the beginning of February. It's a modern piece, and far from easy. The current regime of music rehearsals and staging are taxing enough, with the orchestra due to be added to the mix soon for additional complication. Worse, I have solos. I certainly didn't ask for them! - in fact, I hoped/assumed that as one of the, er, more senior members of the ensemble, I would now be exempt. Not so. It's sort of a character role, so maybe they thought I would suit it best (or maybe they just want to save the cost of a wig by using someone with real grey hair....?) Whatever............. I was not too thrilled. This does mean I have to be a bit careful, take care of necessary equipment (lungs, throat, etc.), preferably not get a cold, and keep enough energy in reserve to get through several hours of rehearsal a day. (Plus any performances of the other pieces we have.) Even after this shorter week, I have an inkling of just how tiring this is going to be. At the beginning of it, I felt recharged and full of elan; by Friday the batteries were already running low again. Towards the end of Friday night's performance of 'Lucia di Lammermoor', with Lucia singing her little heart out in the mad scene, I just found myself thinking 'Come on, hurry up and die - I want to go home!' (Except that we then have to wait for Edgardo to die too.) It didn't help that I currently have several mouth ulcers and they are horribly painful; nor that our make-up is very uncomfortable too. For some reason they want the women to look very shiny, and their solution is to put face mask on over our make up - that stuff supposed to tone and cleanse the skin. It's designed to be on for a maximum of 15 minutes, but we have it for about 2 hours, during which time it gets tighter and tighter and eventually starts to crack and peel (it's impossible to sing without using facial muscles!) - by the end of the evening we look like The Thing that Crawled out of the Crypt. Ah, the glamour of the theatre! Anyway, I digress - I just wanted to say, I'm not too optimistic about the feasibility of combining work and serious running for the next 4 weeks, and I fear work has to come first. But there will be SOME running - I need it to preserve my sanity!

The latter half of Week 1 was fairly tame in comparison (sorry to disappoint anyone expecting more rows, fence-climbing, and getting lost) - possibly because I did most of it on my own! Or no, I was with J. on Friday, but it was one of those 'midday quickie' sessions at the school track (open over the school holidays) - hard to get lost there, and short cuts don't come into it. A day of stormy west wind, snow showers, and the occasional lurid gleam of sunlight from behind slate-grey clouds. A slowish 2 km there, 3 km somewhat faster (5:44, 5.46, 5:28 - I generally do them about half a minute/km faster than this, but didn't chance it this time as the air was so cold), and another slower 2 km home - 7.17 km in 48:04.

The next day I went off to the Bireggwald on my own, quite late in the afternoon, after procrastinating for a while because I felt so tired. (Apart from the rehearsals etc., a storm had kept me awake in the night.) Setting off up the side of the woods, I felt I could barely muster the energy to put one foot in front of the other.......... but by the time I reached the top, I felt better; and the further I went, the better it got. I had discovered the Dynamo Effect! By the time I had been twice round the fig. of 8, down to the middle of the woods, and twice round the middle hills, I felt good for more......... but common sense reminded me it would be getting dark soon, so after a round of the triangle, I headed for the ponds via the top path of the Vita Parcours, and along Waldrand, planning to go home along the road. I heard the church bells ringing for 5 o'clock mass.When I reached the turn-off, though, it was still quite light, so I risked the longer way back, along the continuation of the path along the edge of the woods. Home at 10 past 5, and still not properly dark - I do believe the days are getting longer again! Got back feeling quite re-energized (though glad that for once I didn't have to go out again - no rush to get changed, bolt down some food, and set off for work. A free evening feels like such a luxury........ and I had 2 of them to look forward to! - one on Sunday too: a performance Sunday afternoon, but nothing in the evening.) So having set out out planning to do just the minimum, it ended up as 9.41 km in 1.16:16. And an interesting side-effect: the mouth ulcers felt much less painful. Whether it's the improved circulation, more oxygen, or the cooling effect through breathing in cold air, the swelling had gone down and they hurt less. I noticed the same thing the previous day, but didn't make the connexion with running until the phenomenon recurred. Alas, the 'cure' was only temporary........... but very welcome while it lasted.