April 2014

[Sweder]

I'll tell you what's great. Waking up with jet-lag at 4am and reaching straight for this forum. That hasn't happened for quite some time. It feels good, and better still, it feels like a sea-change in my demeanour.

Inspiration comes from all angles. No doubt reading MLCMMan and BB on 'getting back into it' poked me in my rather well-protected ribs. Seeing OutAlongtheRiver go from nervous novice to puddle-jumping offroad maniac, and watching all those grinning Moyleman finishers race by, made me green with envy. Now, out of the ether, here comes long-lost Nigel with a link to a piece on a follow-up to Feet in The Clouds, one of the most inspiring running books I've read. Part of me at least was hungry for succour, for I've downloaded and consumed 50% of Running Free in the past 24 hours.

Now, all I want to do is get out there and run.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Good man! Though I'm sure I don't need to say this, "report back here when you've done so".

[Sweder]

Good man! Though I'm sure I don't need to say this, "report back here when you've done so".

That's the plan. Part of my new approach is to resist recording every outing, here or anywhere else. It takes pressure off when time is a factor, plus people get fed up with endless posts about short, fat, sweaty runs by a fat, sweaty runner. All that said I've returned from the East with a chest infection, so that first early run will have to wait. Took the hounds out for a pre-dawn stroll though. Serenaded by the Dawn Chorus rendition of Ode to Joy. Wonderful.

[Sweder]

Very much enjoying Askwith's new tome, though I'm bound to say he's pretty much stolen my thunder.
Subjects covered so far include:

- the joys of off-road running
- the benefits of barefoot running
- running with dogs
- running with the Hash House Harriers
- incontinent cows

*calls lawyer*

[El Gordo]

Good man! Though I'm sure I don't need to say this, "report back here when you've done so".

........plus people get fed up with endless posts about short, fat, sweaty runs by fat, sweaty runner.....

Never! It's the purple torpedoes in the sky (clouds, I believe) that I would miss.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Good man! Though I'm sure I don't need to say this, "report back here when you've done so".

........plus people get fed up with endless posts about short, fat, sweaty runs by fat, sweaty runner.....

Never! It's the purple torpedoes in the sky (clouds, I believe) that I would miss.

I can only agree with EG ... short posts, long posts, sweaty posts or inactive posts, they are all wonderful reading, so please continue!

[marathondan]

*calls lawyer*

Don't worry, if there's space in the market for "Feet in the Clouds", "Run Free" and "Running Free", there's still space for your magnum opus as well.

Hmm... "Fartlek and Loping in Lewes & Vegas"?

[Charliecat5]

And to turn your running pressure dial up all the way to 11… I’ve just completed my fourth run of the week (YES ME… A MOUNTAIN BIKER). Two runs at the weekend in Devon – gasping up the Devon hills and two local runs over my lovely Downs. This morning’s run was 4.8 miles up, up, up onto Kingston Ridge and back home with an average pace of 9.15 – I know this doesn't compare against the ‘greats’ who post on this site… but for me this was a new personal best… and it is getting easier.

BTW, on your recommendation I am currently reading Feet in the Clouds by Richard Askwith – FIND ME A MOUNTAIN – I NEED A MOUNTAIN TO RUN UP.

This is my elevation from this morning’s run… it reminds me of something… I just can’t put my finger on it.

   

[Sweder]

Good work, fella! I can see a Snake session on the (gently rising) horizon ...

[Sweder]

*calls lawyer*

Don't worry, if there's space in the market for "Feet in the Clouds", "Run Free" and "Running Free", there's still space for your magnum opus as well.

Hmm... "Fartlek and Loping in Lewes & Vegas"?

Free Running Feet In The Wild Torpedo Clouds is on my drawing board as we speak

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

What? No "Born to..." in that working title? Shocked!

[Charliecat5]

I've had the odd snakebite session... but never a snake session. Should I be worried?

[Sweder]

I've had the odd snakebite session... but never a snake session. Should I be worried?

Most certainly.

[Sweder]

Still no running on the horizon. It's not for lack of inspiration, immersed as I've been in the excellent works of messrs Askwith and Whalley these past five days. Despite days of restful slumber under the beaming African sun my lungs remain in tatters. Every night they tighten as if constricted by a giant, invisible snake, every morning I wake moments before a bout of wild barking and lung butter expulsion. I may need a trip to the Quacks after all.

Some of our day trips out have been inspirational, too. Imagine the urge to run across this alien landscape, perched high above Wednesday's thick cloud as we drove up Mount Teide to view the great volcanic Hellmouth. There's a lot more to Tenerife than shoddy replica pubs and gobby tourists.

   

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Nice work Sweder ... make sure you get better soon so you can hit those trails with the running shoes instead of the walking boots.

[Sweder]

Shorts, singlet, socks, burned-out, treadless Mizunos, eager dogs, sleepy sunrise, cool breeze ... I ran. No gadgets, no time-piece (somewhere around half an hour, maybe more), no pace. Heaps of coughing, expulsions, meandering over dried mud, swishing through wet grass.

And it was GOOD.

[Charliecat5]

And that's what I have realised... once you are out the door, once you have got to the foot of the hills... even though your legs hurt, you can't breath, you shouldn't have had that last pint the night before and you have once again bitten off more than you can chew...

It is GOOD.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Most excellent news indeed!

[Sweder]

Another modest plod today, mostly in preparation for the Lewes 10k 'fun' run on Monday. I loathe 10ks but as I'm in no shape to run this at any sort of 'pace' it will be a pleasant six mile ramble through the woodland trails just south of the town.

[Sweder]

I'm off to the printer's to get my 'I survived the Lewes 10k' t-shirt.
Having been more nervous than at any time in ten years of pre-race loitering, I got round without keeling over. It was not a thing of beauty. Wheezing, phlegemy, shuffling and distressed, yet completed, somewhere short of the hour.

The course turned out to be neither dull nor flat. At various stages we encountered stoney paths, mud, waterlogged grass, modest hills, mud, charging cows, cinder track, mud and potholes filled to the brim with brackish foulness. The cows provided my highlight. Spotting our colourful conga weaving along the edge of their field these brave bovines launched into an effeminate stampede. Never breaking into a full run, they minced - there is no better word - at high speed, thirty or so young beasts, as one, towards the runners. One of our number, a chap called John, lunged at them, waving his arms and yelling. They stopped, did an awkward about/face and minced off in the other direction at high speed. If my lungs hadn't been in my throat I'd have laughed.

The event was a great success, a large number of on-the-day entries pushing the start back by half an hour. I met up briefly with Andrea & Simon (Almeria 2014), Rob (resplendant in his new-ish Lewes AC vest) and Sam, another Lewes-based runner-blogger who's been training to a fifty-five minute 10k schedule and racking up miles as part of the 118 (million miles) for Boston.

Afterwards, face glowing, shirt wringing wet, I gasped for breath, alvioli crackling like a well-known breakfast cereal. It seems my old friend Asthma is back, indeed may be behind the prolonged bout of coughing that started back in Almeria and has plagued my year to date. A visit to the doctor beckons, followed by tests and, no doubt, prescriptions. C'est la vie. These things are sent to try us.