London Marathon day.
It’s my favourite session of the year. A sunlit, Sunday morning, and here I am, armchaired in front of the TV, in the thick of my marathon preparation.
As I write, Paula Radcliffe is well on her way to another record-breaking victory. I feel ambivalent towards her. Her ability is beyond question, but the Paula industry is dispiriting. It spoils the purity of the story. Is she an athlete or a commodity? The obvious answer is “both”, but I don’t much care for the ratio.
I’m happier with my own marathon prospects than I was this time in 2002, when I did the race. I’ve done more training than when I did Chicago later that year. And Copenhagen last year was a comparative shambles. This time I’ve been able to use my experience of previous campaigns to try and make things easier for myself.
The training’s been different. I’ve not been so strict about midweek runs. I’ve done them, usually three, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but I’ve not bothered escalating the distances too much. I started off running a total of 11-15 midweek miles, and that’s how I finished up. The second important difference was to take the weekend long runs more seriously. The third was making a strict effort to lose a few pounds. The proof of the pudding will come next weekend. It will still be a murderous plod in a comic time, but I’m happy that I’ve done my realistic best to prepare.
Yesterday’s final weekend ‘long run’ wasn’t really long at all. 6.2 miles. It struck me that I ran exactly the same distance – 10km – as I did on the first day of the year. Yesterday was a stroll in the sunshine. I felt strong and confident, and treated the run as a gentle plod along the canal on a warm spring morning. Remarkably though, it took me less time yesterday to cover the distance than it had in January when I was in a race. It’s a vivid illustration of my improvement.
My route yesterday was a sort of final farewell to the training. I chose the canal because it’s where I’ve done most of my long runs, and because it’s the quietest place to be around here. Final preparatory thoughts will come in the next week, and I spent much of this run reminding myself of that. From now on in, it’s mental…
The afternoon was spent at Loftus Road, watching QPR draw with Leeds “You’re not famous anymore” United. Another match we should have won against another team who offered little. Our season is now all but over. I have to decide soon whether to renew my season ticket yet again. Every year I say I won’t, and every year I do. This time however, the club has announced price rises of between 30% and 60%, depending on how you interpret them, which is making the decision a little easier. At the moment, I’m thinking that I won’t renew, but still go to about 10 home games. It will roughly halve the cost, give me a lot of my life back, and radically reduce my stress levels. We’ll see.
After the game I drove up to Mayfair to take up the kind invitation I had from Sweder and his charity, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, to attend their pre-London Marathon pasta party. What a great part of London this is. It’s so rare that I have the need to be here, but I just love driving round Grosvenor and Berkeley Squares, floating past all those opulent buildings, glimpsing other lifestyles. I used to feel resentful about it, but I must have mellowed. Now I find it culturally and architecturally fascinating, rather than socially divisive or politically inflammatory. I just don’t care enough about it anymore.
The JDRF do was at the plush Naval Club in Hill Street. An enjoyable event, with good speeches and a decent plateful of nosh on offer. Ash (Sweder from the forum) paced anxiously round the room, discharging his responsibilities as the boss of the FLM runners, but must have been delighted that the evening went so well.
STOP PRESS: Paula Radcliffe wins London in 2:17, just outside her world record. Sweder comes in in 4:06, which I think he’ll be happy with.
Well done everyone.
