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. The main practical reason was that I was planning to spend this evening witnessing my team’s further humiliation at the hands of Bristol City. A more worthwhile reason is that I would prefer to run first thing in the morning beause I think it would energise me for the day ahead. This was to be a dry run, as it were.
I’d tried to ease the predicted pain by laying out my gear last night, but it turned out to be a pretty feeble incentive. The world beyond the window was dark and uninviting, and it was extremely hard to get out of bed in a "Hey, let’s go for a 4 mile run" mood. I just didn’t feel like it, but I knew I had to, so I eventually dragged myself to my feet.
Within a minute of setting off I knew it was going to be tough. My body just wasn’t awake. It was in slumbery-lethargic, unco-operative "what the hell is going on?" mode. Within the space of a few minutes it had gone from warm, comfy, supine, total relaxation, to being pounded and pummelled out in the cold dark streets. It was traumatised. Within 2 minutes or so I was walking. That pain up the back of ribcage had returned. I jogged on and off for the another 10 minutes or so.
Then I noticed someone wheeling their rubbish bin out into the road and I realised to my extreme annoyance that I’d forgotten to do the same. So I padded back home, emptied all the rubbish, put the bin out, swapped the position of the cars in the driveway as I’d also promised… then started my run all over again.
[RANT ALERT]
Oh dear, I wasn’t happy. To worsen my mood further, I’d just heard a radio interview with some American military dolt defending Bush’s "axis of evil" speech last week. The USA seems completely unaware of how many friends it has lost recently with this kind of tub-thumping. Bush is as big a buffoon as we all feared. He doesn’t know what day it is. I don’t understand it. I have liked almost every American I have ever met or worked with or corresponded with or dealt with in any way. My trips to the US, whether business or holiday, have always been really enjoyable and memorable. Many of my musical and literary heroes are American. But when it comes to understanding international politics, their representatives just don’t get it. They could have whatever they wanted if only they played the game with a little more guile and humility.
[END OF RANT]
Eventually I managed to crank up a bit of momentum and actually ran a mile and a half or so. Then the rain came down. This wasn’t fun rain like I had last week. This was cold, hard wintry driving rain that stung my legs and drummed my skull. It was the sort of stuff that runs off the end of your nose in a long, continuous stream and makes you gasp for breath. I passed a group of 4 kids running to school with their mother. The girls were crying and wailing. I was fed up. I pulled up my hood and just walked the final mile or so.
Later, after my bath, I felt pretty good and, yes, pretty damn energised, but I don’t know if I want to go through that again. Apart from anything else, I didn’t get my full 4 miles in; probably ran for only 2. I need to be doing the miles. I felt that this morning’s effort had somehow trivialised the task. I can’t afford to miss the training. I found that my body wasn’t able to deal with running ‘straight from bed’. I think next time I try a morning run I will have to get up even earlier and do muhc more stretching and warming up before hitting the street.
Tomorrow is 7 miles – a pretty significant distance for midweek. It will be an evening run this time.
And I hope my American friends aren’t too unhappy with me.
