December

[Sweder]

There are always days like this in any training schedule.
I heard Wayne Rooney confess as much the other day. He said sure, there were days he'd rather just stay in bed. Bed was not my problem this morning, it was lack of power. Someone must've pulled the plug on my overnight battery charger.

Out at sun-up I plodded easily onto the Downs, leggings deployed against an icy blast from the west. At this point I visualised my Thierry Henri's, the little black woolen gloves still laying on the coffee table. And at this point I committed the cardinal sin of running - I started feeling sorry for myself.

Another miscalculation on this morning of blunders was my choice of listening. Planet Rock made way for Five Live Sports Xtra and live coverage of the 3rd One Day International cricket match between Pakistan and England. The commentary crackled all the way from Karachi, Arlo White and Geoffery Botcott describing the carnage as the hosts removed layers of lacquer from the ball, crashing it to all corners of the packed stadium.

I soldiered on up the slopes of my new Blackcap route. I considered exactly how to describe my performance today; running in treacle, perhaps? No, no . . . ah yes - tethered by strong elastic. That's it. I staggered on against the breeze just waiting for the mental bungee to reach maximum stretch before catapulting my sorry carcass back down the slope and into a large, sloppy cowpat. How Stuart Hall would love that!
'Ha ha ha HA!!! The Belgians!!!' or in this case, perhaps, the Swedes.

It was another iconing sporting commentator who cut in with a far more telling remark.
'Ees spent, is the lad. Any fool can see that. I've said it before an' I'll say it again, you need to be on top of your game to perform out 'ere'
I shook my headphones, glancing nervously at the surrounding gorse bushes.
Nah. It's coincidence.
'You can't tell me the lad's not under prepared. Ee's really strugglin' and it's no wonder.'
Well Geoffery, you see I had planned to wear the gloves, but with all the commotion this morning and the dogs and -
'Poor preparation is that. Y'can't expect to succeed at this level if you don't prepare properly.'
No, well . . . sorry Geoffery. It won't happen again.

Duly admonished I buckled down to some serious hill-munching, pounding the soggy turf up to and around the summit. At the turn I felt the welcome nudge of the wind at my back and relaxed, loping home in better spirits. The story from Karachi failed to match my improved mood, the Pakistani batsmen taking turns to see who could hit the ball farthest out of the ground. The delirious spectators screamed their approval, conveying pure bedlam through the ether.

Home in under the hour, cold and tired but with 5 hard miles in the bank.

When it’s not always raining there’ll be days like this
When there’s no one complaining there’ll be days like this
When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch
Well my mama told me there’ll be days like this

[SIZE="1"]Days Like This, Van Morrison[/SIZE]