Month: January 2002

At last – a great run this evening. How long since I said that? I noticed a while ago that the success of a run was usually found to be inversely proportionate to the expectation – and so it proved again tonight. I just wasn’t looking forward to running 6 miles. No particular reason; just a general lethargy and a sense of pessimism about how I’d cope.… READ MORE.... …

You have to wonder about all this "running is good for you" stuff. Most of this log seems to have been a description of ailments and pains. This evening saw all the usual ones, along with a reawakening of Sunday’s blister, plus a strange ache at the top of my spine. To top it all, I actually fell over. I was on a short stretch that runs alongside, but in the shadow of, the main road.… READ MORE.... …

Je suis cream-crackered. 12 miles through West Yorkshire mist and drizzle today, from Flockton to Huddersfield, across the tops. Gasp, there’s nowt but bloody hills here — as I discovered some years ago when I lived in the area, and had the great idea of buying a bike. Murderous. The original plan to come up last weekend (when the long run was only 7 miles) was modified by a glance at the football fixtures.… READ MORE.... …

Dull, dull, dull. 3 miles, and the usual aches. I don’t want to mention the problem anymore: it’s too boring and dispiriting. Tonight’s 3 mile training run happened. Then I came home and found M tucking into some noodley thing that I’d been salivating over through the run, so I ended up chomping through a plateful of lettuce and elderly mushrooms.… READ MORE.... …

What a very strange evening. I didn’t get out till about 8 o’clock: a bit late when there’s 6 miles and a torrential rainstorm ahead of you. There’s a new suspect in the ongoing investigation into the baffling case of these sharp rib pains I get. Step forward… sleep. I haven’t been getting enough sleep for weeks. Going to bed too late, waking too early.… READ MORE.... …

Finally managed to track down a copy of Runners World magazine in Chipping Sodbury, in a newsagent that should rename itself the Hunting, Shooting, Fishing and Farming Lobby. This area is manic in its desire to chase after things and kill them. I’d better be a bit more cautious on my jaunts around the back lanes, particularly on these dark evenings.… READ MORE.... …

Backish on trackish. 8 miles and 95 minutes in teeming English rain. The chest pain followed the recent pattern: once I manage to get through the first 2 miles or so it almost goes. I say "almost goes" because even when it’s not massive, it’s always there, like some unwelcome guest hovering in the shadows outside, waiting for any opportunity to slip inside.… READ MORE.... …

It’s getting boring. No, not running per se, but the debilitating stabbing pain in my chest when I start a run. Tonight it happened yet again, though like last night, I managed to run through it until it eventually decreased after about 2 miles (but in a 3 mile expedition, no great consolation). I’ve grown accustomed to the notion that it’s connected with food and the unhealthy elements thereof, but could it be exacerbated by the size and the timing of meals, rather than just their content?… READ MORE.... …

The phrase “lost a shilling and found sixpence” springs to mind. Tonight was my midweek longish run of 5 miles. It’s now almost superfluous to mention it but yes, I had my chest-ache. It began within half a mile, and I considered stopping and going back. I really didn’t fancy another run-walk-run-walk for 5 miles on a dark night. But I persisted.… READ MORE.... …

This is probably my lowest point since I started running. Tonight I almost didn’t bother going at all. I was tired and cold and thoroughly fed up with these ‘ribcage stitches’. I’d also raided the biscuit tin this afternoon and gobbled up about 20 of ’em before forcing myself to put the lid back on. Yeah, it was miserable. I wondered what the point was of getting togged up and venturing into the freeze just to feel frustrated, In the end I went because I recalled something that Hal Higdon said in one of his emails at the end of the first week’s training.… READ MORE.... …