Runstreak day 434 - and the day where I ran to parkrun... didn't run parkrun... then ran home again.
The middle bit involved me volunteering for the first time. It was really good to be involved and my favourite part of all was watching all the parkrunners coming round the small lake at the start of it. It's wonderful! A stream of runners coming together. Reminds you of the power of parkrun.
If only the power of parkrun could keep you warm though. I was ABSOLUTELY frozen! I'd got warm on my run there and had a couple of extra layers to put on once I arrived. I had 6 layers on!!! Unfortunately, as soon as I went to stand at the finish funnel ready to do barcode stuff... I started to get cold. Standing on the frozen, muddy grass, I could feel the cold pinching at my feet. I jogged on the spot a bit. Jiggled about. But the mud clagged more on my trainers and I got colder and colder. By the time I'd dealt with the last barcode, I'd been standing around for over an hour and couldn't stop shaking.
Now... that's fine, if you can get yourself warm pretty quickly. But if you can't and you have to run home, you're in trouble. *I* was in trouble. I have Raynaud's and really struggle to keep my hands, feet and face warm. I'd got two pairs of gloves on, but my hands were painful. The real problem, however, was my feet. I had gone way past pain and I couldn't feel any part of my feet. My leg muscles were stiff with the cold and when I went to start running with Katherine to get home... I managed a couple of minutes and then had to stop! Which is completely unlike me.
I tried to get started again and managed a weirdly slow jog. I rang my husband to see if he'd pick me up. No answer. I tried again. No answer. I *had* to manage it. Now, if anyone else has tried to run with no feeling in their feet, it is the weirdest thing ever. You feel the thud of the ground hitting them... in your legs. But in your feet. Nothing. I had a big hill to run up. I walked it. I'd run the same route there and have run around there loads of times, but I was so disorientated with the cold, I couldn't recognise where I was. Some how, I managed to get home. I honestly don't know how. Thud, thud, thud of my flat feet stiffly hitting the ground and the only way I could run was by trying to move my feet in time with me counting the steps, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4.
I was too cold to take my trainers off and had to have my husband help me into the shower... and then went to bed as I felt so horrible. My feet were completely white from my ankles to the tips of my toes. And my hands were agony. Plus, my face was so numb my speech ended up slurred and slow! Damn Raynaud's!!
So... much though I love parkrun... I won't be volunteering again until the weather is warmer!! My impression of a human icepop is not one I want to repeat again in a hurry!
PS Even a cuppa cha didn't help. *shock horror*
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