Sometimes all the bits slot together, giving rise to a strong sense that “I am a runner”. It’s an awkward thing to say, and to see, in black and white. But it’s true, and it’s a beautiful place to be. This roller-coaster week has brought me back up again to admire the lovely view from up here. After a pretty rotten few days, this evening I had one of those wonderful runs that remind me what this is all about. Eight miles at the end of the afternoon while there was still just enough sunshine and daylight to see me round. It was rush hour. Plenty of cars to get in my way, but it mattered little. After the recent … …
Blog Posts
Normal service… is resuming. Slowly. I had the day to myself today, and was able to enjoy the luxury of a daylight run. Early this morning the sun shone brightly, leading to two erroneous assumptions: a) that it would continue to shine all day, and b) that it must be warm outside. Somewhere in mid-morning the sun died and guess what? The rain began again. When can we expect a break from this? Apart from the day of the 15 mile run, more than two weeks ago, when I thought we’d broken the back of winter, it seems to have been at it for weeks on end. Around lunchtime a few glimmers of sunshine reappeared and I decided to take … …
Another spell of hard labour on the exercise bike. It’s probably doing me good – torturing some different leg muscles and giving these blisters a chance to escape. However… despite producing the required bucket and a half of sweat, it doesn’t make me feel quite as holy as when I return from a run, almost glowing in the dark and vibrating with satisfaction. Blister Bulletin: the one on the left foot is giving up the fight. It’s now a battle-hardened, but almost defeated, deep scarlet graze. The other one is still making up its mind. It’s in two minds about whether to hang around and be a nuisance, just for the hell of it, or whether to make a dash … …
This is a bad spell, simple as that. I still have some lovely toe blisters so tonight it was ’16 miles’ on an exercise bike instead of the scheduled 4 miles on the road. The two distances are said to be equivalent, which is some comfort. Certainly I was sweating and buzzing like I’d run 4 miles. I’m going to have to dig in here and keep the faith. I need to get this foot problem sorted even if that means I miss a few days of running. As long as I keep up the exercise and am back on the road in time for the weekend’s long run I will be OK. I treated my battered feet to another … …
You win some, you lose some. Today’s run was a disappointment. I did at least do 16 miles though at least 3 of them were walked. I’m still not quite sure what went wrong. The day didn’t start well. The weather was awful again. Cold and cheerless. It rained all morning. I hung around, listless, hoping it would stop. It persisted. I stepped outside briefly once or twice. It wasn’t even cosy, ploppy English rain but horrible screwdriver rain straight from the Arctic. For a fleeting moment I was tempted to think: why bother? But the thought never made it through the safety net. I left eventually at about 1 o’clock and got into my stride surprisingly quickly. Within a … …
A non-running day, but a couple of things to report. First, a great email from the previously-mentioned Dave Clayton, whose suffering as a fellow QPR fan is compounded by an addiction to marathons. I’m sure he won’t mind if I reproduce a slightly edited version of his message: ——————————————————————————————– …My training is not so good at the moment. I’m finding it a bit of a struggle actually. My method to a successful run is the following : Vaseline is your best friend. Take a disposable camera with you – get pictures of your experiences all the way round, and get people to take pictures of you with people you meet or with QPR fans along the way. You will appreciate … …
4 miles, feeling pretty weary after last night’s 8. This bloody rain is tiresome. It’s a while since I wore my contact lenses but I’m planning to blow the dust off them and use them for running. Glasses, running and rain are decidedly ill-suited companions. After a while tonight I just gave up wiping the spray off them, and the last couple of miles were spent wondering if that approaching thing was a harmless dip or a pothole, a post or a child, a hedge or a parked car. Sometimes it just occurs to you what a crazy pastime this is. Wretched, cold, wet, tired, hazardous. That crock of gold had better be there to meet me or I’ll be … …
Caramba, these midweek runs are getting longer. 8 miles tonight, though I was luckier with the weather than last night. When runtime came around the rain was over and the wind had dropped. Cold though – just 2 degrees above freezing. Despite this, I ran without a tracksuit top for the first time in the evening. For the first shivering mile I thought I’d misjudged it, but after that I warmed up and was glad of the decision. I took an unusual route this evening. I tend to stick to the same back lanes during the week but tonight I adapted my recent Sunday 10 miler which takes me a different way. A pretty dull route it has to be … …
It’s on evenings like this I realise I’m a total fool true marathoner. Despite the temperate and positively Spring-like last few days, this evening winter returned, just to keep us on our blistered toes. By the time I was ready to go, the wind was howling round the eaves of the house and the rain was beating on the windows. We were under siege. At another time I would have sat back, shut my eyes and enjoyed the dramatic sound effects but tonight I didn’t have that choice. There followed a vigorous 5 minute warm-up on the static bike just to be sure my legs were still working. After Sunday I was taking nothing for granted. Damn, the legs were … …
Today I learnt 4 things: Kazuo Ishiguro is a top geezer Power gels work In the space of 16 weeks, it is possible to move from a point where you are unable to run for 2 minutes without vomit dangling from your teeth, to a point where you can run for 3 solid hours and 15 miles I will finish the London Marathon Today should have been a disaster as I was looking forward to running. This is a bad omen, given recent experience. The karma monster, or whatever it is that casts our destiny dice each morning, might have been misled, as I started to relish the prospect of a run only immediately before I set off. All week … …