Time to get going again.
Seven weeks after Chicago, and I’ve not run at all, apart from a desolate, two mile jog about three weeks ago. Since the marathon I’ve put on at least 15 lbs. It’s time to act. My close season is over.
I’ve lost all my marathon fitness. I’m fat again, and get out of breath walking up the stairs. Excellent. Once again, we have a blank canvas. A corpse waiting to be revived.
This weekend I’ve entered three events for next year: the Silverstone Half Marathon on March 2nd, the Reading Half Marathon on the March 9th and the Great North Run on 21st September. There will be many more, though these are ones that are likely to fill up quickly.
Yesterday I walked 4 miles along the canal in the dark. It was unrecognisable from the many Chicago training runs I did along there. There were no flies to chomp, no cyclists to deflect into the canal. There was no rendezvous with fate in Chicago to wonder about. There was nothing at all. No birds, no animals, no anglers, no sounds. Just the still, silvery canal and the soft, slippery mud sucking at the soles of my shoes.
It was hard to accept that Chicago was all over. But we’ve passed that stop now, and it’s time to prepare for new adventures and new disasters.
The first definite racing date is the Wokingham Half Marathon on Feb 9th. If I thought I could manage it, I’d like to get to the Stubbington 10K on Jan 12th.
Stubbington? Er, how should I know? I’ll look on a map when I get up that morning. But they say it’s by the sea, and they say it blows away the Christmas cobwebs. Just what I’ll need.
But if I can’t get there, it looks like Wokingham in February.
This week, I need to do another few walks like this, along with some sustained, sensible eating, and I might be able to start running again in a week or two. Why not join me?
