andy Wrote:Interesting perspective, Mick. If you're right, then I've done a lot worse than bruise my running's feelings. My fear is that that I've murdered the poor bugger.
I like the idea that running itself has a beating heart. We always knew that the sole was important, but the soul? In my limited (and 5 years isn't that much) experience, I've almost never been more than 2 weeks away from a run, looking in both directions. The one exception may have been when my calf injury forced me to take 6 weeks out.
Anyway, it was never long enough to feel truly detached from it - mentally or physically. 3 or 4 weeks away from the little fella, and I'd be punished alright, but another run and I'd be finding my groove; I'd be getting my own modest little eye in once more.
After 4 months away, I'm finding it very tough indeed. It's not just a hurdle to leap over at the 2nd or 3rd attempt anymore. It's a brick wall that needs dismantling. It's like that old video game - "Breakout". You have to knock out the bricks faster than they get created. Once you get in front, you can easily stay in front. But once you drop behind schedule, you can be rapidly subsumed by the things. Overwhelmed. It's always 2 steps forward, 3 steps back.
I want to make light of it; to make the usual hearty, blokish remarks about pubs and pints of beer. But here I am, in a rather desperate position and I don't know quite how to deal with it.
What you wrote doesn't solve my problem, but it helps to rationalise it - and thanks for that. I'm not after sympathy, and I'm not being fatalistic. I have to get back into running because I feel so lost without it, yet I'm having major difficulties.
I'm nearly 2 stone heavier than I was when I ran Zurich, only 5 months ago. It's ping-pong logic. I can't run because I'm so overweight, and I'm so overweight because I can't run. It's a mental thing. Perhaps learning to love that little fella again will be a good new way of breaking through the walls of the maze.
On another subject completely, don't be shy -- what's the book? I know I could google it, but no harm in attracting a bit of publicity.
And that reminds me - something I meant to ask you ages ago. Do you have any idea what happened to Julie Welch? For those not in the know, JW was the first female football reporter for a national newspaper (Observer I seem to recall, back in the 70s or 80s). Tottenham fan. But she also wrote the best running book I ever read -- "26.2" -- about the London Marathon. She used to contribute to various running forums on the web, but then seemed to disappear. She lives (or used to) and runs (or used to) in Blackheath.
I'm off to have a glass of wine and a deep think.
Andy,
In no particular order...!
I don't know what Julie Welch is doing now. I know her husband used to be sports editor of the Telegraph, and he's just left to become an agent. I also know that you're quite right about '26.2', because I read it a few months back, and thought it was wonderful. She was good enough and brave enough to let people tell their own stories, and not to intrude too much herself. It made for a fantastically honest book.
I don't know if I was attempting to solve any problems with my analysis of my running, as much as reflect a (hopefully) temporary lull I seem to be going through. I think what it's told me is that I need to concentrate to get better, not just run. I don't know why it makes a difference, especially at so low a level of ability, but when I take it seriously, my running seems to improve, and when I do precisely the same sessions, but while relaxed and slightly more removed from the sport, I get worse. Given that all the physical elements seem to be the same, it leads me to feel that there's some other, more surreal reason, for the way my performances fluctuate - as if my running is a distinct character with a personality of its own and a dislike of being ignored!
When I ran London, you told me I'd realise the value of it months later, when it would suddenly dawn on me one day. You were right, and now I've got to bat the same piece of advice back to you. The value of that sub 5hr run, and all the pain that went with it, is that it serves as a reminder of what you can do, what you've achieved, and why you should go out again and start plodding. You can feel like you did that night after you finished in Zurich again, but only if you get out and do the first few strides - only if you just get started again. As you make the move to get changed and get out the door, that's the time to remember how good it felt. Once you've started, keeping going is far simpler!
Lastly, then, the book plug. It's called 'All Round Genius', by me, Mick Collins, and it's the story of the greatest all round sportsman this country ever did or will produce, and how nobody has ever heard of him. It's available on Amazon, here -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1845131371/202-1060749-2144624?v=glance&n=266239
And it got reviewed by the Telegraph, here -
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/sport/2006/07/13/sobook13.xml
And the Mirror, here -
http://www.mirror.co.uk/northernireland/..._page.html
And Cricinfo (online Wisden) here -
http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/c...56069.html
And a few other places, who now keep their content as subscription only!
I think it's reviewed in Observer Sports Monthly on Sunday. It's going well, life's absurdly hectic as a result, and I've nothing to complain about. Apart from my running...
