Month: January 2002

A 10 mile day, but one marinaded in the misery of a week of pain and gloom. That sounds worse than it is. I’m confident that this chest thing isn’t a cardiac problem. It’s the irritating stitch-like ache that clambers round inside my ribcage like an ape in a suit of armour. Today’s instance was more depressing than those earlier in the week.… READ MORE.... …

I did the 5 miler this evening instead of last night in the hope that the chesty syndrome would have worn off (it usually takes 3 or 4 days). No such luck, though strangely, I did enjoy the outing nevertheless. The discomfort didn’t stop me until 18 minutes, an unusually long time – so perhaps it’s on its way out again.… READ MORE.... …

Supposed to be my long midweek run (5 miles). Curtailed to 3 and a bit, and that was a stop-start 3 and a bit. That other bloody chest pain again. It doesn’t hurt a lot at all, but it just prevents me from running for extended periods. Beginning to have my first serious doubts now about whether I’ll make the London race.… READ MORE.... …

Last night, doubled up in pain with the old stomach problem. Almost weeping with the agony of it. Everything was off. There would be no marathon for me this year. To round off the misery, my right foot was also throbbing with pain. Felt like an old gout problem. Neither of these had troubled me for many months, and both turned up again on the same night.… READ MORE.... …

Another landmark today: 9 miles. It put up a bit of a fight. Not a frantic fist-fight; more a kind of sluggish wrestling match in which no one was ever likely to get seriously hurt, just, well, inconvenienced. I persuaded an incredulous M to drive me to a point exactly 9 miles away, where I disembarked with a sense of some foreboding.… READ MORE.... …

3 miles. The freezing weather continues. Unsure of the temperature but my car windscreen was iced up as I left the house, and I spent the run staring ahead through clouds of breath. My pace seems to have settled down to roughly 12 minute miles, though I will waste no energy on worrying about time. At this early stage, it seems far more important to continue building endurance, stamina, muscle, resolve and fitness, and losing weight, than worrying about the whereabouts of small, and pretty arbitrary clumps of seconds.… READ MORE.... …

Another frozen lollop around the block (current temperature is 0 degrees), this one spiced up by taking place in pitch darkness. 4 miles, 52 minutes – deliberately slow in these slippery conditions. Urbanites like me tend not to take much notice of the moon, but in places like this, it becomes suddenly important. I’ve happily done this run in the evening before, but never in total darkness.… READ MORE.... …