No scheduled run today so I whiled away Coronation Street and University Challenge on the exercise bike instead.
There’s been a bit of correspondence today on the running newsgroups about the fat, panting newbies like me who lined up at the start too near the front, thereby depriving people further behind of a winning chance. Or at least, forcing them to overtake too many runners in a congested opening mile.
Hmmm. It’s hard to justify deliberately pushing-in, but I’m also surprised that people get so exercised about this in a mass-participation event like Reading. The opening half mile was pretty congested, it’s true, but after that there was plenty of space on the course. I obviously don’t understand the etiquette fully yet, but it seems a bit odd to me that you’d want to complain about the inconvenience of overtaking people. It’s a race; that’s what you do. But next time I’ll be more aware of this.
Here’s a brief list of some things I learnt yesterday, along with some general advice for the new runner:
don’t kid yourself that putting on some running clothes and taking part in a race is a simple activity;
get organised the day/night before. And remember – however well prepared you think you are, there’ll be something you’ve forgotten;
don’t decide to quickly check your email over breakfast;
driving for an hour at over 100mph immediately before a race is not good mental preparation;
have a plan for when and where you’re going to change into your kit and your shoes. It won’t work out like that, but having a plan at least postpones the panic for a while;
in the interests of brotherly love and world peace, don’t start too near the front if you have a beer belly;
decide your race plan and pace well in advance. The first mile of the race is not a good time to start doing tricky mental arithmetic;
sponges dripping with freezing water can be fun, even on a chilly morning;
running and drinking simultaneously is not easy. Practise this useful art;
still with water, little and often is good – better than the opposite;
spectators are genuinely impressed with your effort. A welcome reminder that not everyone can run for 13 miles or more. Nice runners show their appreciation back;
it doesn’t matter how certain you are that those shoes are just perfect for you. Believe me, they aren’t.
but the best thing of all about a major mass participation event like this is that it really doesn’t matter how fat and slow and crap at running you think you are — there’s always someone even fatter and slower and more crap at running than you. Grin broadly at them as you pass. They’ll appreciate the encouragement. And so will you…
