The tail-end of the football season is never an easy running time. Too many compulsory, disruptive pub visits to factor in. After a good run with the club on Tuesday night I was looking forward to a week of consolidatory plods around the lanes before my next race – the Hogweed’s 10K in Yate – on Monday evening.
But last night I had a rendezvous to keep at one of the village menageries that has Sky TV. After getting home late, I calculated that a run and the necessary ablutions would make me late for what turned out to be an appointment with disappointment; Ipswich v West Ham turned out to be less of a contest than I’d hoped. But that’s always a delicious part of the risk. One should always endeavour to be punctual, so I abandoned the run in favour of football and mild drunkenness, which of course spilled over into today, pushing yet another run off the agenda.
I’m starting to look into races to run through the summer and autumn. The former will be mainly recreational 10Ks, but I suppose the autumn ones’ll get a bit more serious as the Loch Ness monster approaches. I’m struggling a bit though to find races that fit in with my schedule. I’d thought I’d finally do the Windsor Half this year but it’s the week before the marathon, so that’s out. The week before that is another race I’ve had on my list for 3 years: the New Forest Half. This might just squeeze in, though I’m not sure that racing (albeit my rather leisurely interpretation of the word) during the taper is a great idea. A week or two earlier and we’re into August, which sounds a bit hot to be running half marathons.
Perhaps I’ll stick to the smaller events. I’ve been struck by the number of midweek races there are in the summer months. I’d not noticed this before. Sounds like a good way of ensuring midweek speed sessions.
I have to keep saying — mainly to remind myself — that my aim for Loch Ness is to enjoy running. The scenery will be great, and it’s probably too hilly to think of another PB, so pleasure would seem to be the main objective. I’d even thought that I’d try running it without a watch. How interesting would that be? And how might it affect my race? Perhaps it would allow me to just relax and enjoy the environment. The race is chipped, so I could be sure of getting an accurate time at the end. It sounds like a plan.
But like most of my plans at the moment, I may not think too much more about it until after Monday week. There’s the final of the FA Cup on Saturday, the Champions League on Wednesday and the play-offs next weekend. After that, I’m hoping to rediscover some sort of normality.
