Another 7 miles on the board. A relief. I was apprehensive, thinking that my two dissolute evenings would have filled my veins with booze and saturated fat, and that I’d be found fox-nibbled under a hedge at dawn, frozen solid. But well, it was alright actually. Damn cold though. Well below freezing tonight in this part of the West Country. Hard to get started.… READ MORE.... …
Month: February 2002
Oh, what a rare delight it is to feel these warm alcoholic clouds cushioning my poor overburdened head. I’ve returned from my wedding anniversary dinner, feeling quite [hic!] replete. Before the Ming Dynasty summoned me, I did however manage to fit in a 4 mile run. I had no idea how it would turn out, and I was apprehensive, but it worked surprisingly well.… READ MORE.... …
Oh dear… I’m writing this as I chomp through a chunk of Cheddar the size of Ayers Rock, and pour myself another glass of Tesco’s finest Chianti Classico. I’m having a day off. A couple of days off in fact, as tomorrow we’ll be dining out at Chipping Sodbury’s finest Chinese. Eating out is the biggest casualty of this health regime.… READ MORE.... …
Why should I be surprised? I’ve said more than once that the satisfaction I get from a run seems to be inversely proportionate to the level of expectation. I didn’t enjoy today’s 10 miles very much, and I’m still trying to understand why. I felt tired and lacking in energy. Why? Plenty of reasons. So many candidates in fact, that I don’t know which was the main culprit.… READ MORE.... …
I couldn’t resist it any longer. This afternoon I made my way down to Easy Runner (“Bristol’s only running shop”) for a bit of retail therapy. What a delight. Never thought I’d see the day when I would swoon in front of a display of socks, but as old hands are fond of telling newbies like me, “When you train for a marathon you learn things about yourself you never knew”.… READ MORE.... …
I’ve been frighteningly disciplined so far when it comes to dragging myself onto the street when I really haven’t felt like it. Partly because experience tells me that I’ll end up being very glad that I did, but mainly because there has always been this fear that once I start to slip, it will be the thin end of the wedge, and in less time than it takes a novice to snigger at the word fartlek, I’ll be off to the chippie, via the Oxfam shop to drop off my running gear.… READ MORE.... …
What a great run I had tonight. Seven miles and not a drop of rain; barely a gust of wind; several degrees above freezing at last. Perhaps this is what running is supposed to be about. Not battling against the weather and the cold and injuries and blisters, but just having the pleasure and the comfort of reasonable temperatures and dry ground beneath your feet.… READ MORE.... …
Mindful of the possibility of overdoing things a bit last week, I took a complete rest yesterday to prepare for a new week of exertion. If today’s run is anything to go by, it didn’t do a whole lot of good. I decided to do my modest 4 mile run in the morning, before work, instead of the usual early evening.… READ MORE.... …
13 mile mission accomplished. But it wasn’t easy. This was a strange run. Last week’s long run up-hill and down-dale, complete with heavy rain and throbbing blisters, was much harder than this but today’s was a different type of ‘hard’. Today the weather was mild and dry. So mild indeed that for the first time in this current outbreak of unfamiliar clean-living, I ran without a tracksuit top, and instead gave the watching public a flash of my new Hal Higdon singlet.… READ MORE.... …
I feel like a child playing truant. This blister is still evident so again I’ve done a pretty frantic 3 x 10 minutes on the static bike instead of running. I have a 13 mile run to do this weekend (another new distance), so it seems wise to prepare well. Any aggravation of this wound would be certain to reappear on the long run.… READ MORE.... …