It strikes me that the timing of this first diary entry makes me look like somebody who is prone to making New Year's resolutions. Well ... I'm not. Honest.
I've been running sporadically for a couple of years now. I've entered and completed one race (Liverpool Half in October 2002) and have plans for another one (Liverpool Half in March 2005).
That's quite a long gap. In the meantime I've not really shown much commitment to the cause. Certainly people don't think of me as a runner. Not in the way that I think of Andy as a runner, or a QPR fan. I used to be thought of as a cyclist, in my late twenties and early thirties. And whilst I never competed on a bike, it did consume me to a degree that running hasn't yet.
Perhaps running just isn't as exciting or glamorous as cycling. Spinning through an Alpine village at Easter on your way to the summit of Galibier takes some beating. There's the gratifying whirring sound of the chain moving through the sprockets broken only by the call of 'Allez allez' from groups of skiers gathered on balconies. As you climb further up the valley there's the spiralling road beneath you and the white summits above. Even when you meet 'The Doubt' and you're testing your mental and physical limits, hanging onto a well crafted machine that sways rhythmically up the mountain-side seems to offer more dignity than being a lone lump of flesh bouncing and panting up the road. Then there's the descent. A normal person can achieve epic things on a bike.
I'm sure there are running experiences to match this somewhere. The problem is that I don't want to devote the same amount of time finding these experiences as I used to. Or maybe I just need to be more ingenious. I'm sure my missus would like a week in New York; and that living and running through that rather grand metropolis would be a novel way to reacquaint me with the place.
Then again, when I visual how I want to run, it's more likely to be a windswept ridge or a deserted canyon. I think exploring landscapes is important when I think about what I want from running. But this can't always be achieved during the more routine activity of staying fit. For this I'll have to discover Andy's perspective: that running is the answer to general well-being.
I'll also mention that I'm not that keen on the process of measuring my running. Runners are now as obsessive as cyclists for statistics provided by mobile devices. But if running is an enriching activity that helps us involve our mind, body and soul with the landscape around us, then I reckon that reducing it to splits and pbs can have a negative effect. I remember well the time my bike computer broke. I didn't replace it and was amazed at the difference. I started appreciating my surroundings more and responded to my body, rather then the read-out. It's at this point that I should probably uncross my legs, stand-up and put out the incense. My natural instinct is to measure, and I know what a great psychological effect it can have. I seem to have developed an ambivalence towards it.
One big theme that I have posted about previously, and that I think is crucial to any success (and consequent enjoyment) of running, is our relationship to food and hunger. As somebody said to me recently: 'Luke, if you're over thirty you're either fat or you're hungry'. And whilst this statement doesn't bear too much close scrutiny, it makes a valid point.
Our relationship to food in the West is quite decadent. In poorer parts of the world food is thought of in a different way. People do this by respecting their hunger as a necessary pre-condition to the enjoyment of food. Hunger is like a ritual; a type of worship. A pooja in honour of that which keeps us alive. And I'm not talking about people who are starving; I'm talking about relatively affluent people who have access to plenty.
This sounds like it's coming from an elevated position, but I can assure you that it's not. I struggle with this every day. No, make that every hour. I know the answers, but they still don't easily penetrate my thick head.
Q. What should I eat?
A. Tasty food that doesn't contain too much sugar or saturated fats.
Q. How much should I eat?
A. Just enough to satisfy my hunger.
Q. When should I eat?
A. Only after I've been hungry for at least an hour.
Simple.
I'm slowly getting there, I think. So what food should we worship? That's a personal choice of course. I've attached a picture of one of my favourites.
This is a vegetable Thali. Take a flight to Bombay, then a taxi to VT station. Admire the splendour of this Victorian masterpiece for a couple of minutes, then head across the street. One plate will cost you about 60p.
Alternatively, you can hang around Running Commentary and I might be able to provide a few tips on good, healthy Indian cookery.
In the meantime I need to get out for a long run this weekend. I've got about 8 short runs under my belt since mid December and the race is only two months away. I'm not sure how this measures on any of the various race-plans out there, but I don't feel too anxious yet. Food is on my side.
Brilliant introduction glaconman ... I'm very much looking forward to further founts of wisdom from you, as all that sounded marvellous. I certainly understand your thoughts re cycling. I used to be a cyclist too until the traffic started spooking me (coincided with losing my peripheral vision). I still watch the Tour de France each year with pangs of regret. Still, running is the answer, if only to general well-being, and it does have its moments, especially when you get off road and start seeing some real scenery.
But I love that thought about the over-30s being either fat or hungry... there's much truth in that.
Very interesting stuff, Glaconman. I can't disagree with anything very much.
You're right about gadgets. I love the idea of running without them, enjoying the activity in its purest, most uncluttered sense. BUt. But I love gadgetry too, and I find that being a number slut (as they call it), does help me to measure progress or lack of, and does make it easier to have targets, which seem prettty essential. Maybe there's a good compromise. Maybe training for specific, long distance events requires a methodical approach that can best be tracked and achieved with a watch or a GPS gadget. But perhaps shorter races (certainly 10 miles and below, and perhaps even half marathon and below) could be approached with more simplicity.
I'd love to have that attitude to food. Trouble is, I can be pretty self-disciplined about it, then it all sort of explodes, and I need beer and chocolate and nothing better stand in my way. If I could crack that periodic urge I'd be fine. Any ideas?
Interesting points about the 'glamour' of cycling against that of running. I agree that cycling, with its sleek chrome machinery and lycra-ed bodies and space-alien helmets, has its own glamour and high style. But I think it's one of
attractions of running that it's the opposite. It's about sweating and grunting and cursing in the dark, when it's cold and raining. It's about atavism, something primeval, reaching back and touching something that we used to be. It's about reconnection.
Yes, that's probably most easily found on the moors or along a cliff path, but it's one of the great things about running that this sense of 'solitary figure in a landscape' can be found anywhere - even a city street. But it does require a leap of faith, a suspension of disbelief. And I can't always do it.
Good to have you on board.
Andy
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
I though MLCs pic looked familiar SP . . .isn't that Tom at the Dilraj?
Welcome Glaconman, and thanks for a thoughtful, thought-provoking post.
I agree with Andy on the scenery aspect. Whilst it would be great to run through the Thelma and Louise set every afternoon, it's the plods through local landscapes on cold, damp, dark nights that define us as runners. In those moments of suburban solitude we find ourselves.
I never did take to cycling. I enjoyed a brief period as a boy racer on a Yamaha RD250, screaming up and down Box Hill on a variety of pharmaceutical enhancements. Your description of the pedalling through Europe makes we wonder if perhaps I've missed out on something quite beautiful.
Disregard for running gadgetry is to be applauded. Devoid of GPS watch I devise measurement methods to make Heath Robinson proud. I succumb on track nights when the heartless bark of the coach, his eyes glued to his stopwatch as we file past, delivers a most public assessment.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
MLCM, the speed at which you offer visual reposte is more than impressive.
Andy, I think the only way to deal with binging is to go below your fighting weight in anticipation of the next bout; a laughable suggestion I know. The primeval runner versus the cyborg cyclist. I like it. Maybe we should all attempt a triathlon. I'm joking, of course.
Sweder, I had amphetamines down as your drug-of-choice. Maybe it's the prolific diary output; or perhaps it was the Marradonna-esque expression exhibited on the front of a recent running magazine.
Sweder Wrote:Spookily close, Glaconman; I used to be a roadie, so I know the magic dust of which you speak. I packed away those toys many moons ago, though.
