Here is the news — good and bad. Hold on while I switch on the dry ice machine and play a few arpeggios on the harp to set the mood… Look into my eyes, look into my eyes, the eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes, don’t look around my eyes, look into my eyes, you’re under… It is Boxing Day 2008 — just 3 days ago.… READ MORE.... …
Month: December 2008
I got up early this morning and ate a banana and some Marmite toast, washing them down with a small black coffee. In my life, this signals only one thing: the long run. OK, or a race. Even a shortish one. But today, it was the long run. The clue is not so much what’s on this menu, but what’s omitted.… READ MORE.... …
The end of Week 19 (counting back from Boston). I got the 3 key runs in, and the 3 cross-training gym sessions. Sounds great, yet the week didn’t go quite as planned. With M away Monday and Tuesday, I managed to resist the lure of alcohol the first night, but slipped out to the pub on Tuesday, hoping in vain to see Chelsea chased out of the Champions League by a bunch of plucky Transylvanians.… READ MORE.... …
It’s been quite a 24 hours. It started on such a gentle note, too, in the Asics shop in Argyll Street, just opposite the London Palladium. I went to have my feet analysed. The smiling Japanese girl was a delight, and just giggled at my very English embarrassment at not having cut my toenails in a while. She carried on attaching tiny black stickers to a selection of my pedal protruberances without any outward sign of disgust.… READ MORE.... …
Items for perusal on the agenda for today’s gathering: Wednesday1: Puzzled by apparently contradictory guidance on the eligibility of the elliptical cross-trainer as a cross-training option in the celebrated Furman FIRST marathon plan, I write a speculative email to Furman University, asking for clarification. I get a detailed reply within 20 minutes from Professor Bill Pierce, who wrote the book.… READ MORE.... …
When does marathon training begin? Perhaps the very first day you start running. But when do you start running? Before you’re born? This isn’t a helpful line of enquiry. Adopting a more prosaic perspective, I suppose the usual answer would be “When the training schedule says you begin”, and that could be anything: 16 or 18 or 20 or 26 weeks.… READ MORE.... …