Keep on running

On my 18 mile run - and yes, I will be banging on about this mileage for a while - I started by listening to the Flaming Lips and Polyphonic Spree.  The epic choral rock music seems to ease me into a rhythm which I do find difficult to get into at the beginning of a long run.  

I was just about ready to find some jangly pop on my Ipod when I met up with another runner on Tower Bridge and we ran together for a while, swapping tips and idling away a few miles. When we separated I hit play again and went back to the Polyphonic Spree.  I needed something else but couldn't be bothered faffing around concentrating on finding music when I needed to find my own running cadence.

Three miles later I was suffering and on a much needed walking break I hit shuffle. Luckily, the Klaxon's It's Not Over Yet didn't pop up, which has done in the past, but more irrelevant tunes from Oasis, Kate Nash and Kaiser Chiefs lifted my spirits.  Then with a mile to go Queen's Don't Stop Me Now took me to a different level.

I chuckled at the reference to keeping going and got into the beat. I then listened to see if not only Freddie's music could give me a boost but if his lyrics cold too.   

How could you not start swaggering, even if your legs are like jelly, your stomach's cramping up and there's a blister growing with every footstep on the inside off your right foot, to words such as...I'm a shooting star leaping through the skies like a tiger defying the laws of gravity?

Or I'm burning through the skies two hundred degrees that's why they call me Mr Fahrenheit?

Or I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars...satellite out of control?

None of it seems to make much sense now but on the run I was motivated.

I'm not a sex machine so I won't write those lyrics in the vague hope that I don't look sadder than anyone getting excited about a Queen song could.  Or anyone who at the end of the song who quickly took his Ipod out of his pocket and made it play again.  

I'm now going to devise a set list of songs that will instantly give me a jolt if I'm flagging through the latter stages of the marathon. Some will be cool tunes including Stone Roses, Courteeners and a lot of Oasis's first album.  But I'm guessing most won't. Somebody should stop me at some point though, I could get carried away.

Over 18

I've just come back from running from Stockwell up to the Tower of London, through the City, on to the Strand, through Piccadilly, Westminster and then Chelsea, into Battersea Park and round it, over Chelsea Bridge, up to Vauxhall Bridge, and then home.

I8 miles.

Thanks must go to Claire who I met on Tower Bridge.  The 7 or so miles we ran together really helped ease the boredom and forget the fact my legs were getting very painful.

Although, as we departed 11 miles in, I slightly lost my pace but still got back home in around 3 hours.

More later.  Especially on the track which got me through my last mile.  

A dedication to Si

I think my biggest worry about training for the marathon is getting injuries. It means you feel sore, can't train, and have too much time to think about everything that can go wrong in between now and getting to the end of the marathon. I ran a 12 miler around a month ago and my knees didn't recover for a tense four days. In the time it took to recover I had decided I'd not do any more long runs before the big day, the pain would never go away and that my knees would implode and blow my shins into my metatarsals - there are more than one as we all know by now - as I pass Westminster on April 13th. After the pain had gone though and a pleasant 4 mile run was over, all the worries went too.

My mate at work has just returned to his treadmill after two weeks recovering from a 14 mile run that he knew he shouldn't have completed almost straight from the start. He's since decided not to follow his intermediate routine and go on a beginners schedule and just aim to get round on the day. But my bet is in a week's time he'll be back wanting to at least beat a time in the lower 4th hour on the day.

On Sunday my knees hurt but recovered for a run on Tuesday. I ran at lunch time with a colleague and we decided to go up to a lake and run around it 3 times. At the beginning of the third lap pride got the better of me when I should have just said: 'let's go back as my knees are tender'. As I left the post run shower it wasn't my knees that were in pain but my foot. It felt as though it was cramped up. This meant I didn't run yesterday and there was still a slight twinge this morning and I wondered if I should have gone out today on it. 6 miles later, if it was chopped off right here and now I would be grateful. Hopefully I haven't committed a running sin and over trained on an injury but we'll see. My worries have started.

I know this is a selfish ask but if you pray please say a little one for my right sole (and soul while you're there), cross your fingers if you cross fingers, and if you're Daoist please throw out some yin to my painful yang.

This final paragraph is the dedication to Si who has the ultimate marathon injury (see attached blog).