Month: May 2004

What a very English collection of words: "the Hogweed Trot, Chipping Sodbury". But why did I feel it so important to drive 80 miles at white-knuckle speed after work to take part in it? The inaugural Hogweed Trot (named after the local Hogweed Trotters running club) winds round 10 kilometres of rustic lanes around Chipping Sodbury and Yate, somewhere north of Bristol.… READ MORE.... …

I’m a great believer in solving problems by throwing my wife’s money at them. Today we bought a new lawnmower. I was geeky enough to wear <em>_colin</em>, my distance monitor gadget while I was mowing the lawn. The garden is biggish, but I was staggered to find that cutting the grass, and making the regular trips to the compost heap in the far corner, involved a total of 3.4 miles of legwork.… READ MORE.... …

Marathon day. It ends with sublime weariness, but starts with such a naive energy and sense of purpose. Highly strung in the morning, totally plucked by the afternoon. Here we are at 06:30, assembled for a clamorous communion in the hotel restaurant. Water, and bananas and bread and coffee, and more water, taken in the company of 150 marathon zealots. Febrile energy, apprehension, anxiety, manic glee.… READ MORE.... …

I’ve been trying all week to be positive about tomorrow’s marathon, but I keep wondering if I’m doing it right. Of course I’m going to finish, I tell myself. If I take it steadily, I can avoid upsetting my calf. I can beat my Chicago time, and get in under 5 hours. Of course. But this positive thinking lark confuses me sometimes too.… READ MORE.... …

Perhaps it’s when you feel least able to run that you most need to do it. I’m having, or (fingers crossed) have had, a bizarre couple of weeks. For some invisible reason, one day, with no warning, running just ran away from me, and I’ve been struggling to catch up with it ever since. Demotivation is a terrible blight. All it needs is the narrowest crack to hide in.… READ MORE.... …

I can’t get away from it. I really don’t think the marathon is going to happen for me. I’ve had two brief early morning runs this week, and they’ve been fine, but a marathon is a different animal, and I just don’t believe I could do more than run half of it and walk the rest. I know people will suggest I do just that – and perhaps I will.… READ MORE.... …

Copenhagen on May 16th is looking increasingly like the American plan to hand over power to the Iraqis at the end of June. We all know it isn’t going to happen, but keep saying that it is. Last Sunday (race day minus 2 weeks), I opened the back door and sort of oozed into the belated final 20 miler. The first four or five miles were OK.… READ MORE.... …