Five days after the marathon, and the return of some kind of normality. I’ve been in Manchester all week, discussing sensible things like business processes and software solutions, and generally re-acquainting myself with normal life. Normal life, I am reminded, contains beer and Indian food and fried breakfasts and chocolate and midnight biscuits. Which in turn contain horrid things called calories which are already producing the hint of a long-forgotten sense of tension between the belly and the belt.… READ MORE.... …
Month: April 2002
Today I ran the London Marathon, finishing in 5 hours 51 minutes. If I’d been serious about trying to finish in five hours, I might feel quite disappointed by this, but this was only ever a vague hope; the primary aim all along has just been to finish the race in one piece, and that was achieved. It was another crack-of-dawn start, like yesterday (Saturday), when I had to get over to Docklands to register.… READ MORE.... …
7am, and a few things to add to my checklist: post-race fleece old shirt for start (disposable) plastic Runners World bin-liner thingie for start (disposable) deodorant glasses glasses case money sun block? Some bad news perhaps: it’s looking as though M might not be able to get to London to watch the race after all. Something has cropped up, and time will be a bit tight.… READ MORE.... …
No run today after all. Too busy doing nothing. Too busy chomping on bread and pasta and pouring pints of orange squash down my neck. I’ve no weighing scales here at the moment but I suspect I’ve put on a pound or two this week. Or maybe a little more… Perhaps I’ll do my final 2 miler tomorrow morning, or I might just skip it completely.… READ MORE.... …
Mmmm, this carbo-loading is fun. Yet another plate of pasta has slithered down my gullet; yet another chunk of dense granary bread has been chomped into oblivion; and here comes another pot of low fat rice pudding. Yes, I could get used to this running thing. Three miles this evening. A nostalgic sort of distance. The staple of those early frozen weeks.… READ MORE.... …
This evening’s run was one of the most important of the entire training programme. As far as the marathon preparations go, the last few days have not been good. The house move and the drudgery of a week of DIY have twisted my routine and my diet, and I’ve been feeling increasingly unprepared for the big day. Today I felt fatigued and unmotivated.… READ MORE.... …
My midweek ‘long run’ has now been tapered down to 6 miles. It came early this morning, before buckling down to yet another day of joyless wallpaper-stripping. It was warm and sunny even at 8 o’clock this morning. I walked and jogged down to the canal and began my run from there. A supremely restful experience, despite the physiological trauma. Fabulously bucolic: trees laden with songbirds, the canal a sleeping glass snake.… READ MORE.... …
Monday and Tuesday I rested. Today I was up before seven to do a 4 miler though it didn’t quite go to plan. Last night I’d worked out a 2 mile route around the block which I planned to do twice. However the busy stretch of road that I’d chosen to form one of the long sides of the rectangle turned out to be horrendous: no pavement, bumpy grass verge, too close to the traffic roaring past.… READ MORE.... …