Walking my way back to running

So, here we are, then.

The curse of the best laid plans etc etc means that – contrary to expectations – I am not starting 2023 by running my first marathon in 4 years.

Sadly, I will NOT be toeing the line in Mumbai tomorrow morning.

All that hype about getting back on track, and forgetting the seriously shitty last 3 years…yeah well, the shittiness continues.

I developed eye problems just before Christmas, and though it has now been downgraded from a retinal tear to retinal haemorrhaging, the surgeon still insists on “no jogging”.

Indignantly (& rather foolishly) I told him that running a marathon is SO much more than jogging (even though I am, in fact, the slowest runner on planet earth 🙂 )

But my vanity didn’t exactly help my case, I now realise.

No jogging means no marathon.

So, I reluctantly pulled out of the Mumbai Marathon tomorrow, and will almost certainly have to pull out of the New Delhi Marathon in late February, so it’s all pretty damn boring.

On a scale of the shit that people around the world are having to endure at the moment, I realise that retinal haemorrhaging is no big deal. Fully get it.

So it’s a case of grin and bear it.

I am allowed to walk briskly – “at jogging speed” – according to the good doctor, so I am doing exactly that. Walking miles every day following doctor’s orders.

To cheer myself up, we fled the freezing cold and crazy pollution in Delhi and came to sunny Bangkok, where I am now walking long distances every day, something Delhi’s shocking air quality precluded.

Working on the basis that time on feet and endurance and so on and so forth will stand me in good stead for my main 2023 goals, I shall pound the Bangkok pavements day after day, and get to know Bangkok better.

Walking is a great way to discover the city, because once off the main roads, there are little “soi”s (lanes) and canals galore, and an easy, smiling acceptance of this mad old foreigner wandering up and down.

Bangkok feels like a really safe city, at least in our part of town, and even though I am exploring teeny weeny lanes, where much of life is lived in the open, people just smile at me, as I toddle past and they get on with their lives.

The plan is to cover a different part of town every day, and so far so good.

Those big goals of 2023 still stand.

Even if I have to walk towards them, rather than sprint!