Running with arthritis

Ok, that is about a year since I last updated this blog. By anyone's standards  that's lame. Perhaps I will change this in the near future. I have recently finished my work for the summer and am sitting at home in the beautiful Polish countryside looking out at the July weather ... and guess what? Its raining and there is a thunder storm overhead. Undoubtedly if I went and chatted to one of my neighbours the first quip would be about the "angielska pogoda."

What have I done in the last year? Well apart from the normal, English lessons, exams and proofreading I have been running. After ten years of a self-imposed ban on running I returned to the discipline with a vengeance. My ban was due to my arthritis and my belief that my running days were over. Last May I started a gluten free diet after discovering that I was a borderline diabetic and found that it had positive results on my joints as well. I generally felt much better and decided to take up running again.

I entered myself in the Uniejów 10km run in October, giving myself six weeks to train. This of course was too much too soon and I more or less crippled myself in the first few weeks. After ten years I was in bad shape cardio wise and needed to rebuild my stamina. However, I completed the run and It gave me confidence. Since then I have done several runs (10km, 15km and a half-marathon) and my latest passion is for triathlons.

Why triathlons? Well I decide to use the cross-training method to help my joints and thought, well if I'm swimming and cycling as well I might as well train for a triathlon. So far I have done one and was happy with my finishing time and can't wait to do the next :)

There can be only one!

The small market town of Uniejów once again became transformed into a medieval battleground for the third annual knights competition. Since starting in July 2005, the festival has become a large regional attraction. Held in the grounds of the 14th Century Uniejów castle, the latest incarnation is an extremely professional affair.

Awell as the fights, there is an array of arts and crafts stalls as well as the usual sausage sizzle bar. Uniejów is fast becoming a tourist attraction, that will only be improve by the opening of a geo-thermally heated aqua-park next year along with a treatment centre.

I will undoubtedly go to the fourth and i recommend that all of you do likewise if you are in the vicinity.