Go!vember

[Sweder]

Synchronicity Old man, synchronicity ...
I was only last night (in the wee small hours of this morning actually) revisiting my Connemarathon 2010 report in search of some mental sustainance. In terms of tough physical challenges mental toughness is, in lieu of supreme fitness and perfect preparation, everything. My own prep for P2P has been in stark contrast. A variety of work-related and personal issues have conspired to shred my plans. In the last, critical month I've managed a handful of perfunctory plods, the longest being a barely undulating 10 miler. I'm in no mood to listen to the 'ah yes, we've heard all this before' brigade either. I'm as heavy as I've been for three years, undercooked and (thanks to a recent collision with one of my boistrous pups) carrying a badly bruised right calf. I missed ParkRun today and my plans for tomorrow extend to nothing more than a gentle offroad leg-loosener.

And yet ... Point 2 Pinnacle, as tough as it is, can be done.
I've been to the edge a few times; London in 2003 after blowing up at 16 miles in my first effort over the distance with the image of my daughter at the finish line to keep me going; Cape Town in 2007 where a weeping calf and merciless sun tried to cheat me out of a medal, in the sun-kissed western Irish hills last year where dumb boneheadedness overcame common sense to get me home with twelve minutes to spare. I've stared into the abyss, gas tank empty, legs failing, body slumped into an ugly melting grostesque, and each time, from somewhere deep within, I've found the will to finish. Like a football team used to scoring late goals or winning ugly these experiences can be the difference between getting over the line and bumping your arse alonog in the back of the sweeper bus. Success to me next week will be to cross the finish line on my own two feet, preferably before sunset.

I'll be bringing Feet in the Clouds and Born to Run with me for a little in-flight head training. We leave London on Tuesday and arrive in Sydney on Thursday, a travel marathon by any measure. I plan to program my running head and rest my battered body. And maybe catch a movie or two.