People sometimes ask me where the pleasure is in running. It’s a reasonable question. It must seem more trouble than it’s worth, and if they’d been reading some of the recent entries here they would be even more mystified by why I bother. Over the last two or three weeks I’ve not enjoyed it much, and there have been times when even I have felt that it’s little more than a waste of good beer-drinking time. And then, out of the blue, a great run comes along and I remember what it’s all about. I really wasn’t expecting it either. It’s been another fairly grim couple of days nutritionally speaking, so much so that by the end of this afternoon … …
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I woke this morning feeling bloated and unfit again. My recent runs have done me good, but I ate badly yesterday. Up till 4pm everything had been fine. A couple of slices of toast for breakfast, a coffee at lunchtime, confident that I could survive the afternoon until something suitably healthy in the evening to set me up for today’s long run. But then, just as the second half of the match was about to kick off, a young girl walked past eating some chips and some switch was tripped in my brain. I knew I had to eat. I ran to get a cheese and onion pasty and a hot dog. Oh dear. Then on the way home, M … …
An interesting day. I got up early (for a Saturday) and ran 4 miles. Quite a good run, at a pace of around 10:10 minutes a mile. After a quick shower it was off to London for a trip — sorry, “flight” — on the London Eye. For reasons best known to herself, M has long-hankered for a trip on an open-top London tour bus, despite knowing central London better than most of us. I thought of arranging this as part of her birthday present, but the weather was looking a bit unpredictable for Saturday, so I opted for the Eye instead. Worth a trip. In case anyone doesn’t know, the London Eye is a huge wheel containing 32 glass … …
In my ruminations on the lack of good local routes, I’d forgotten the obvious alternative: the gym. So I paid a visit this evening, and spent an hour or so pounding the treadmill on my own, staring at the patch of sweat on my pale blue T-shirt grow from nothing to a large blob the shape of Madagascar.… …
Missed my long midweek run again yesterday. It was M’s birthday, so we went out to a posh eatery called L’Ortolan near Reading. Disappointing. At least the cheese course was interesting. Tonight I went out for 50 minutes or so. I’m struggling to find good routes I can run at night. Most of the roads around here have no pavements, which isn’t too safe in the dark. The canal is refreshingly traffic-free, but too dark without a torch. The A4 does have a narrow pavement but is horribly noisy and fast. I ended up running around the local high-tech business park. This is another strange other-world. Vast modern glass warehouses and offices, brightly lit, and with barely a human in … …
The summer is gone for sure. It was cold at 5:30 this morning when I set off to do my 5 miles along the canal. The first time it’s been this nippy since March. Predictably, it wasn’t a great run. The lack of a consistent training regime has taken its toll, and I even got a stitch today for the first time in months. Dark, cold, painful, totally bloody miserable. If I use a bit of imagination, I think it could have been worse. Apart from a 3 minute break to shake off the stitch, I ran solidly for an hour. Or jogged. It was slow, but so be it. I need to try to claw back some endurance while … …
The 16 miles did happen, which I suppose is good news, but the way it was done was pretty depressing. Not surprising; I’ve not had a proper run for ten days or so, and even that was a short one. Buggered about most of the day, but eventually got out at about 4pm. It’s definitely cooling down but there was still enough sun to whip up a good sweat before long. As I had a water belt with me, I decided on the rare step of taking along a radio. Despite reception problems, it was a good move, and helped to keep the boredom at bay. Being a bit out of condition, I decided to take it easy, and walk … …
What’s going on here? Answer? Not a lot. And certainly not as much as there should be. Work has become a millstone around my sensitivities, and I’m having to work later and later. My running has been getting squeezed, to the point that I am now worried about my schedule. This morning I filled in some of the gaps from the past week or two, and have slotted them into the relevant places, above. In particular, the Theale 10K entry. Last night I went out for my first run in a week. That is bad enough, but to compound matters I might have picked up a potentially bad injury. It was dark. Indeed I’m amazed at how much more … …
Woke at 5:30am. Within moments I was up and out. Another lovely Berkshire morning: fresh, cool, bracing. No time for a warm-up, so it was straight into it. My usual 3.67 mile circuit. No deer this morning (see last week), just a rabbit or two and a squashed fox. This is a great time of day to run if you can get out of bed in time. Last time I did this, I was buzzing all day. Let’s hope the same happens today. I’ll talk about this in more detail when I get a chance, but briefly, I’ve decided to run for the UKBTS (The UK Brain Tumour Society) I have just created an online page with Just Giving. It … …
Good 4 miles in the twilight: report coming shortly. Hmm, well that’s what I wrote to remind me, but I’m buggered if I can remember it, other than that it was fast for me – about 09:30 pace.… …