Walking in the rain with Tsuken

The afternoon seemed to have more rainless periods, so i decided to have a walk. Near the end of the walk, I saw a couple of Parera dominant ducks with a group of ducklings. 

Tsuken accompanied me. That is most unusual for me. In my younger years I was mostly a solitary runner, and did not even belong to a club. To run my first marathon, i had to join a club, otherwise I could not enter. Having joined the Owairaka club I did go on a few club runs as part of very haphazard training. I was made uncomfortable the misogynistic chatter between some of older runners after we passed an obviously early teenage girl. And left the club.

I was persuaded to join a very different club some six years later; again in order to train for and enter a marathon. They were really nice men, and I stayed with that club until it closed, at a time when I had started joining with Arthur Lydiard influenced distance runners based in Owairaka. The presence of women on those runs resulted in a very different attitude amongst the runners. I joined Owairaka and trained weekly with friends. I also ran for the club in road relay races. 

When I stopped doing the weekend 20 mile training runs, I dropped my membership, and ran as an individual, until I stopped competing. My last four races were half marathons, and after finishing 5th in my age group in the first three, I exited competitive running with second place in my age group. 

For some years thereafter I continued running  to maintain fitness until more recently I started to jog, and then walk. It has been satisfying to be able to run for up to a km (downhill) recently.