November 28th - Ice Puddles

-
    I think things are getting easier, today it was time for another run with my 2 mates Chris and Matt, the last few days I have been watching the weather forecast, we have recently been hit by Storm Arwen and usually when we get a storm it lasts for a few days, Storm Arwen however turned up here on Friday evening and was gone by Saturday night, that is the kind of storm I can deal with. 

    The temperature however is another story, after last weeks run in 6° C the temps took a sudden drop through the week and whilst I was waiting to be picked up this morning I recorded a temp of 1°, wow it was going to be one chilly run but I was still determined to do it shirt free. 

    Last week Matt joined me in being shirt free about half way through the run, I didn't know if he would this week because the temps were much lower, I had psyched myself up through the week and was actually really looking forward to the run, its always a good opportunity to catch up with my 2 good mates. On arrival we were getting ready and I checked the temperature again - exactly 0°C, not the coldest temps I've been out in without a top on but not far off. I took my hoody off getting a sudden blast of cold air on my body and it felt fine. I really am getting used to it. I was also impressed with Matt as he did the same, not a care in the world, he just went for it. 
Rob, Chris and Matt


    The run was great, 5.5km through the forests of Hampshire, plenty of ice puddles around, lots of dog walkers too and we got some funny comments like "its not THAT warm". I honestly felt very comfortable with the temps today and once I am running I really don't feel that cold, once we finished our run we wrapped up warm and headed home. What a great run it was. 

    Todays run really helped to enforce some ideas in my head, its not the conditions that put me off going without a shirt on, I can deal with the cold and bad weather, my main problem is worrying what others think and I AM learning to deal with that. I have spent my life hiding the fact that I like to go shirtless and each trip out helps me more, as I say, I think things are getting easier.

dodgy mid run action photo


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

December 6th - Parkrun Dilemma

-
Image
    Chris and Rob at Havant Parkrun      I am fairly new to the world of Parkrun, if you're not sure what it is then let me explain, Parkrun is a free weekly Saturday morning 5km run, Parkrun's happen all over the country, there are 5 Parkrun's in my area. Parkrunner's are issued their own personal barcode which is scanned in at the end of each run enabling you to keep track of your progress, its a brilliant idea.       I say I am fairly new to Parkrun, that is a lie, I've actually had a Parkrun barcode for about 5 years but I have never had the confidence to actually join in with one, that was until this July when I took part in my first Parkrun. Last Saturday (the 4th) I took part in my 10th Parkrun, the location I generally choose is in Southsea mainly because I know some of the other runners and it is next to the sea if I feel like I need a dip, The Southsea run is very popular often getting between 300 and 400 runners.     I've was asked not too long ago wh
Read more

August 7th - Mr Fox and Mr Badger

-
Image
It has been a while since my last post. The main problem is that I've not really done anything out of the ordinary recently, I have continued with my regular swims and those have been wonderful, I have also continued with the shirtless Parkruns and those have been excellent. But as its summer it is nothing really unusual and not much of a challenge to be out with no shirt on. Summer is always good for being shirt free however there really is no challenge in it and it is always hard to get that cold fix or cooler shirtless adventure. It was time to try and arrange something a bit more of a challenge.   Being out for a length of time with no shirt on can be dangerous on sunny days, plus it had been very warm recently so it has been no challenge, so the solution was to be an adventure at night. I am lucky that I have friends who can help at times and so I asked one friend if he was able to set me up a walking challenge one night, he agreed and made the plans.  In the run up to my adve
Read more

Beginning to Feel Alive - Part 2

-
Image
As a kid I used to hate taking my t-shirt off, actually I tell a lie, I used to hate taking my jumper off, I wore long sleeved tops all the time and I always remember my mum trying to peel my layers off me on the hot days, I was such a weird kid. I am not sure what that habit was all about, I think it was the fact that I hated the idea of people seeing me uncovered, what would people think of me if they saw my skin? it was often a fairly big deal to take my jumper off revealing a short sleeved t-shirt, bare arms wow the shock and horror of it all, as I say I was a weird kid.  There were a fair few instances as a kid, on hot days when I was feeling super brave I would actually take my t-shirt off (or maybe it was my mum who forced me to take my t-shirt off?), when that happened I actually found myself enjoying the air on my skin, I loved the freedom of not wearing a shirt and generally felt good about it all. Rob in school jumper mode As I moved through my teens I braved taking my t-shi
Read more