I run, so you dont have to
Somehow he is clinging on. One kilometer closer to immortality. As he draws near 40k, with just 2k remaining, he frantically tries to work out the maths. At this point, 1+1 becomes confusing, he is convinced he hasn’t done enough. He is going to miss the Standard. But he doesn’t stop trying. Everything is ugly now, the white shoes are brown red with blood, literally screaming at himself to find something more.
If I wanted to run sub 2:20 for the first time, I’d have to do something different. At my age, I also faced the law of diminishing returns. Time is not some made up construct in our heads. I’m older than I was. I don’t feel like I used to. I can’t run as smoothly, jump as high, recover as quickly.
So if you have to train harder just to stay the same, what do you have to do to improve?
The National Road Relays is the most team orientated event in the UK.
For one day, everyone has to put aside their own egos and personal ambitions. Building a team of 12 elite runners can be like herding cats.
I have 10 days to get healthy but not lose fitness. Let me explain something: That’s nearly impossible for me right now. And terrifying. A perfect way, the only way, to live or die.
At home on a Sunday afternoon. It suddenly hit me that I had just run my slowest 10k of all time. I had to go and lie down. How do I get out of this hole? Is it even worth it? Is this the end?
The missing ingredient.
When I ask you; what makes a good runner?, you will throw all the usual suspects at me. Something like:
talent
work ethic
drive
toughness
genes
Vo2 max
speed
strength
form
And so on. There’s is a word you probably haven’t mentioned. It should be on the list. And it might need to go straight to the top.
