The phrase “lost a shilling and found sixpence” springs to mind. Tonight was my midweek longish run of 5 miles. It’s now almost superfluous to mention it but yes, I had my chest-ache. It began within half a mile, and I considered stopping and going back. I really didn’t fancy another run-walk-run-walk for 5 miles on a dark night. But I persisted. The pain was never quite bad enough to stop running, and amazingly, it had actually gone after about 3 miles, and I was able to finish the run feeling strong and determined. I actually felt good on a run for the first time in at least a week – quite unexpectedly.
Spent some of the run thinking about another novice runner’s website I came across recently. It’s called the reluctant runner. He spoke recently of the need to start devising a “race strategy” for the London Marathon. Perhaps it was just a ‘tossed off’ phrase that troubled me more than it deserved to or was intended to, but I can’t help feeling that my essential goal is to finish the race on my feet, and that I must have actually run the race, rather than jogging for 15 miles and walking for 11. I don’t have, and won’t have, a “race strategy” other than one aimed at getting round still on my feet. Perhaps that’s all he meant by it.
If I make it to the big day at all, that is. But I felt good this evening when I got back, so who knows?
