May

[Sweder]

This is very much a tale in three parts with the mid-section – the race itself – divided equally into four 5k sections. Lets begin then at the traditional jumping-off point; the beginning.

Breakfast

Woke up at around 9.30 am – such strange luxury on a race day! – and waited for Ronan, my genial host and a man I described in my Tales from Montreal, much to his consternation I might add, as having a ‘quiet sense of humour’. For the record (and now that I know that Ronan and some of his pals read this rubbish) I will expound on that and say he has a mischievous, understated and in some way mercurial nature. There, that should clear that up nicely.

During the previous evenings' pasta fest we had discussed the official pre-race dining advice as set out by the race organisers. This boldly stated that runners should dine at least four hours prior to start time. I may be over-quoting Mr Sheehan of late but given that we are all an experiment of one I find this sort of sweeping statement risible, declaring so in no uncertain terms to the gathered carb-loaders. Ronan stoutly defended his local arbiters stating that he would be taking them at their word. As things turned out, and as so often in life when people want/ need/ like to get along, we compromised. Breakfast was laid out at the student-friendly hour of eleven. Rice pudding, bananas, honey, seeded bread, coffee and plenty of water filled the table. Leo, the Oxford-based Italian greyhound, joined us and we set about our feast with great gusto. As substitutes for porridge oats go the rice pudding was excellent (if cold), mixing delightfully with chopped banana and honey. Of course we then kicked our fidgety heels for an hour or more before setting off for the Parc du Cinquantenaire whilst I whined constantly and without shame about the obvious folly of a mid-afternoon start.