Trotted along to the local gym this evening for my induction session. Yes I know, but it’s there on my list. There. My list of Things To Do Differently Second Time Round. Use the gym. I don’t like these furtive adult playgrounds much. They’re surreal and disturbing. How do you reconcile the superficial intimacy, the laying-bare, with the lack of communication?… READ MORE.... …
Month: June 2002
An action-packed day. I was up early to see Senegal surprisingly dump Sweden out of the World Cup, before pulling on my wellies and getting into the garden where I spent the rest of the morning marching up and down the lawn pursuing our ancient petrol mower. It has a mind of its own, which in many ways is an admirable quality in a piece of gardening equipment.… READ MORE.... …
Denmark Schmenmark. A comfortable 3-0 win and a match against (probably) Brazil on Friday morning. A great relief to get to the quarter finals. I can now regard the World Cup as a triumph for England. The fear is getting knocked out early on. I watched the second half from the saddle of an exercise bike. It’s a tedious way of training but it slips by with a World Cup match to follow.… READ MORE.... …
I’m up for this marathon. More so than for London. I’m shocked by these levels of enthusiasm and excitement. Unnerving. But it’s early days, and perhaps fatigue and boredom and injury are lurking just around that corner up ahead. There are major differences between this campaign and the last one. The mindset, the entire psychology has changed. Last time, I was preoccupied by fear and doubt, and intoxicated by a sense of wonder; the enormity of the undertaking.… READ MORE.... …
Going off to work at 6am should really have been more miserable than this. I suppose the prospect of an epoch-defining trouncing of Nigeria in the World Cup must have helped, but I think some of this energy must have come from last night’s run. The match failed to live up to expectations. We struggled to a goalless draw but at least we are through.… READ MORE.... …
The great thing about the Hal Higdon marathon training universe is that Monday is a rest day. And the training programme starts on a Monday so yes, the very first day of training, when you’re all geared up and ready to roll… is a day of rest. OK, so for the other 17 weeks of the programme it makes sense, because Sunday is the big weekly effort.… READ MORE.... …
10! 9! 8! Hey what’s going on here? Where am I? As the countdown continues, my sweaty fingers tug at the seatbelt and I can feel my voice trembling. “Hey, let me out, someone… please, Oh my God, someone help me… HELP ME…! 7! 6! 5! For God’s sake, I didn’t mean it. I DIDN’T MEAN IT!! 4! 3! I can no longer hear myself shout above the noise of the screaming engines.… READ MORE.... …
We beat the Argies, and despite a weekend of national celebration, in which I played a full part, I managed a final, preliminary run today. This time it really bucketed down. The tracksuit top was almost superfluous – it took just a few minutes to reach saturation point. Today I explored another new little lane that we were told about last night during a get-together with our new neighbours.… READ MORE.... …
Depending on the velocity of my social life, this might turn out to be my last run before the real enchilada, next week. The south-east of England has been ankle-deep in viscous, grey rain for much of the past few days, and it was still drizzling this evening as I set off for a simple 30-minute jog. I had intended stepping out last night, but the rain was tumultuous.… READ MORE.... …
At last, the great day had arrived. The Queen’s Golden Jubilee… And what better way of celebrating this display of old monarchs than by running as fast as possible away from the TV? Next week, four and a half months of training for the Chicago marathon starts. The plan had been to get at least 3 or 4 weeks of preliminary loosening-up under my belt before the serious stuff began, but after some deliberation, I chose the beer and donuts option instead.… READ MORE.... …