2008 - a bit late

[marathondan]

My previous thread was over a year old, so I thought I’d open a new one. But my rate of output will be closer to one post per month than the one thread per month that is customary around these parts.

I’ve at least achieved some consistency in my running recently – consistently not doing any. Har har.

That’s a slight exaggeration. I’ve put in the occasional 6am session, although the promised 3 sessions a week didn’t materialise, as the lack of sleep (that’s a 6am run after driving 25 miles to work) was killing me. So there’s been the odd suburban foray into the balmy evenings as well.

I’ve resolved my running plan down to a simple formula: run every other day. Of course, for me that’s unachievable, but it makes the internal procrastination discussions much simpler:

Did I run yesterday?

Yes – have a rest
No – strap on the Asics

The result tends to be 1-2 sessions a week, rather than the theoretical 3-4, and so I’m covering closer to 20 miles a month rather than the 20 miles a week of my fantasy life in which I’m a "serious" runner.

The recent raft of holidays, weekends away, and generally Taking On a Bit Much, are hopefully about to give way to a time of bijou barbeques, gentle weeding of the garden, and getting baby things out of the loft in time for August. So I’m hoping to ramp up the mileage for the remaining two months of my running season, with an eye on the Thame 10K at the end of June and the Wycombe half a month later. Would be nice to get a couple of races bagged before leisure activities are once again put on hold for the foreseeable future. I see that Down Tow Up Flow is full, so that’s one for the future.

The long-term goal is still Robin Hood '09. It may seem ridiculously far off, but I know from experience that there’s no point making unachievable plans. I’ll watch the progress of the Great One with interest.

I finally seem to be joining the iPlod generation, although spoken word and music discussion is my current taste. The BBC is of course a rich source: Indie Weekly and Punk Show on 1 (their Rock Show is NOT recommended), Paul Jones on 2, Jazz Library on 3, World Football on 5 (there’s a ton of stuff in there I could listen to if I had the time), Tom Robinson on 6, and on 4 anything from the Now Show to Thought for the Day.