It’s January 1st really, but I’ve been meaning to write something here for so long that it seems better to pretend that it’s still 2006, so that I can say cheerio to it properly.
How was it for you? By my usual steady-as-she-goes standards, it was almost tumultuous. That 5 hour marathon demon got its come-uppance at last, yet I managed to rouse a few dormant ones I’d long forgotten about.
Six months of illness, idleness and burgeoning blubber presented me with a stop-start final quarter. December was shaping up to be a steady but unspectacular tickover month but I’ve managed to pick up a couple of modest, but unignorable injuries.
The lanes round here are narrow and undulating, meaning that rain collects in great Caspian Sea-like puddles. The first way of dealing with this problem is to change your route — the technique favoured by the sensible. Needless to say, I don’t do this. If you confront these great lakes, you can either plough through the middle of them, filling your shoes and indeed your very soul, with black, viscous, icy water, or you can try to circumambulate the expanse of water by nimbly leaping onto the thin grass verge, hoping that momentum will propel you forward just a bit quicker than fatigue and the sodden slope will pull you under.
A few winters down the line, I’ve become reasonably adept at skipping round these ephemeral lagoons. Or thought I had. Alas, it was this complacency that encouraged me to try bounding along this bumpy ribbon of safety a little faster than I should have done. Not only did I manage to lose my footing and slide into the unwelcoming slough, but was able to take the opportunity of twisting an ankle along the way.
The shock of the cold water was such that the it didn’t immediately register that I’d jarred my ankle quite badly. It was only as I was arriving home a few minutes later that it started to throb a little. As the festive season was approaching, I thought it appropriate to break with tradition and use a packet of frozen brussel sprouts as a cold compress rather than the customary petits pois. Despite my best efforts, it had swelled up a bit by the following morning, and I realised I’d better take a few days out.
The following week was Christmas in any case with all the attendant over-indulgence and family obligations, so I’ve ended up not just sidelined for more than two weeks, but about 5 pounds heavier than my weight schedule told me I was supposed to be by now.
To make matters worse, I also have my first ever cricket injury. And not just any old cricket injury but an Ashes test series injury. Here’s the story:
I bought another DAB radio a couple of months ago, which sits on my bedside table. I sleep on my right, but the table is behind me, to my left. Now I’m not that enthusiastic a cricket fan, but over the past few weeks, I’ve found that during the Australia – England test matches, I keep waking up in the middle of the night anxious that I may be missing out on something. I need to find out what’s happening down under. For all I know, Panesar is about to get 6 successive wickets in a history-making double hat-trick. Pietersen is on the verge of hitting 401, to beat Brian Lara’s record. I need to be able to say I was listening live.
To minimise disruption I sort of half turn, reaching out behind me, fumbling in the dark for the 15 minute ‘sleep’ button. The double whammy is that not only have my cricketing hopes been consistently dashed, with nothing approaching the faintest, whispered hint of England glory greeting me when I finally succeed in turning the radio on, but after several days of these nocturnal contortions, I’ve managed to develop a pretty severe pain in my neck that jumps out to ambush me every time I move my head more than a few degrees to the left.
I got so fed up with these latest setbacks that a couple of days ago, while out for a post-Christmas limp, I seriously thought about discontinuing this website. What’s the point of a running website with no running in it? It’s like a cinema that doesn’t show films.
But then, just today, talking of films, I watched a DVD I’d been sent a couple of years back about the Hamburg Marathon. I’d never bothered to play it before. It features me at the 10km, 20km, 30km points, and crossing the finishing line. Apart from reminding me that I waddle from side to side when I ‘run’ it did stir my enthusiasm a little. I can’t pretend that it ignited some great furnace of determination, but it certainly pumped enough energy into that tank to keep the pilot light going for a little while longer.
The Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town is a dead ambition for 2007 now. I’d still love to do it, but I have to be realistic. It won’t happen this year. Perhaps 2008? We’ll see. My immediate plan is to get into some sort of shape for the Almeria Half at the end of January. That’s going to be a struggle now, but I will be there, and I’ll get round. I need to re-re-re-resurrect my running regime so that I can reach at least 10 or 11 miles a week out from the race, and I should be OK.
After I get round Almeria I’ll take a look at where I am in the firmament, and whether a voyage to a spring marathon is feasible. I think it will be. I’ve re-looked at a race that I’ve thought about almost every year since I started running: The St Anthony Marathon in Padua, near Venice. It’s on April 22, which is just about 2 or 3 weeks sooner than I’d like it to be, but I’ll get stuck into Project Almeria, then take it from there.
I’ve said it before, and I fear I’m about to say it again: This game is all about knowing that however bad things get (and being realistic, they are not actually that bad), you can always get started again with the right attitude. Yep, it’s common sense time again.
No alcohol in January; strict diet; re-establish order and routine. End the month by feeling good about getting round Almeria, and seeing Antonio, Suzie and some of the RC gang again. All will be well again. And mentioning Almeria and the people I’ve got to know on this journey is, of course, the best reminder of all of why I should keep the site going. There are great people around this place, and we need each other’s help.
This seems like a good point to say a genuine "Thank You" to all those who post on the forum, and mail me with their running stories, questions and bits of encouragement. You were a huge help to me during 2006, and I look forward to both giving and receiving more support from you all during 2007.
Time to get going again.
