Laps and hills

Well, as I couldn't bring myself to run around the streets of gay Paris last weekend (two notably large nights out put pay to that), I had to squeeze my long run in at the begining of this week, and decided to get it out of the way on Monday night.

In trying to pick my route for this 12 mile run, I decided to stick two together, and did my normal short run home from Palmers Green, followed by 2 laps of Enfield.  The first 4 miles was good I was feeling really positive and didn't even get annoyed at the "stupid" people walking along the path (for a change), then the 2nd 4 miles started with a hill (Windmill Hill for those that know Enfield), then the Ridgeway, Lavender Hill (down), Lancaster Road, Baker Street, High Street and back to the bottom of the hill), finishing lap 1 and mile 8 it was going really well. There is something about running round somewhere more than once (as I keep learning about running and how to trick myself into being able to do it), but the simple fact that the next 4 miles where the same as the 4 miles I'd just done, made it feel easier, you know, that sort of talking to yourself saying, "come on, it's just once more round and you've already done it once you wuss!", so I did.  

However, I think I've got to start tricking myself into thinking that I'm doing longer runs, because it seems the last 1 mile of what ever long run I do, is getting hard, and the legs are really feeling it towards the end, I am sure I look like I'm trying to dance like someones Dad at a wedding rather than run.

Oh, and that reminds me, twice now when I'm stretching at the end of my run, a caring passer-by has asked me if I'm alright?, does my bright red face covered in sweat really look that bad that complete strangers feel the need to offer me help? 

Anyway, long run done for the week and I did it in 2:09 so not to bad for me.  Only problem, for some reason and I don't know if it was the cold, the rain, the hill or the tight shorts but I could hardly walk until Thursday, my legs were like lead. 

South Africa 36 - England 0

I couldn't believe it, I know we haven't been good lately, and I know that we were without some key players, namely 1 in Wilko, but seriously, we were really bad.  I honestly thought that we might have a chance, and as I took my seat in the fantastic Stade de France, amidst 000's of England shirts and plenty of Green (including the 3 blokes directly in front of us with painted green heads). I felt proud.  

As we stood to sing the National Anthem (my first on foreign soil) the England faithful belted out God Save the Queen with great gusto (compared to the SA boys who had the words written on a little piece of paper), I even started to believe that we were going to do it.  The underdogs come good, I mean, this certainly seems to be the world cup for it, what with the Argies beating France, Ireland almost losing to Georgia, Tonga beating Samoa, the stage was set, the atmos electric, and the crowd fuelled on non-alcoholic beer (only in France).

The game started and for the first 3-4 minutes I felt that the £10 bet I had was safe, oh how naive! 

I know we didn't have a flyhalf (and a special thank you to the South Africans in front of me for reminding me of that at every opportunity), but for me the problem was not that Mike Catt was playing out of position, or his age, but mainly the fact that the players who should be stepping up aren't.  I would like to take this opportunity to remind the forwards that they are wearing an England shirt and playing for our country, this should be done with pride, passion and desire, and I would suggest that all our forwards watch and rewatch the France v Nambia game from Sunday night to see what they should do when they get given the ball and space.  Chabal, took the ball in his own half, and had only one thought on his mind, get to the try line, and over 50 yards later, he did, he didn't look around in a panic for a back to pass it to, he didn't try a ridiculus chip kick 5 yards from the line with only 2 men to beat and a winger on his outside, he just ran, hard and fast, and direct, full of determination, and he scored.

The backs hardly ever got the ball on Friday, and Jason Robinson was the only sharp looking back (mainly because he got the ball as the Boks continued to pepper him with the high ball), and then Matthew Tait looked sharp when he came on, but everytime he took a good line off the ball carrier, the carrier took the contact and Tait was left as the first man at the ruck trying to win the ball back.

Any way, rant over, it was a fantastic night, an embarrasment of a game, but a few beers later it was becoming a memory and as the night drew on, the singing started and at 5am as I wound my way through the streets of Paris to my hotel, singing "I know a bear that you don't know" to myself, a sudden thought hit me, bollocks, I'm supposed to do my long run this morning....

.....I didn't!

A Really Good Week

Yes, believe it or not last week was good, I did 2 quick 4 milers, both in under 40 minutes, yes, I hear your gasps, I am getting quicker!  I also did a good 6 miles in 60 minutes in the heat of the day on the river bank on Thursday, this I found to be a number of things, firstly, flat, and secondly enjoyable (and not many of my runs have been that), but running up the south bank was really interesting as there was loads going on and lots to see.  Running back down the other side was not so good, as I appeared to be running into a head wind that was most certainly not helping me on the other side!  and I also couldn't catch this old guy who was infront of me when I came off the bridge.

When it came to the weekend, I'd ended up having a few more than expected at a wedding party on the Friday night (congratulations to both the Argies and the Biscoe's) so I put off the long run until Sunday.

As Sunday morning came round I felt really well prepared (a new feeling) and confident (for a change), 12 miles later and 2 hours and 10 minutes, I felt a lot less confident and a lot less well prepared, but I was still positive about the distance covered and the fact that although my legs felt that they couldn't carry me any further, they have felt like that at the end of each long run, and the next one is always further.

8 Weeks and 6 days

Right, it is all starting to feel very real, and not very far away now.  

This weekend I ran for 2:30 hours on Saturday and was not best prepared for it either as I'd had one or two ciders the night before, also (to my terror) I learned that cider isn't just fizzy apple juice and doesn't count towards your 5-a-day, bugger.  I also learned (the hard way) that curry isn't the ideal carbo-loading night before a long run meal, as I had to break my run and nip into Sainsbury's, enough said!

Any way, I covered 10 miles and also experimented with my ipod by listening to an audio book, this had been suggested by a friend as a way to relieve the boredom of long runs. And listening to Chris Ryan's story of crack SAS hard man storming Iraq certainly kept my attention, but it did nothing for my pace, and I felt that although I ran for a long time, I wasn't close to the distance I would have covered with my up-beat, high energy, euphoria inducing music, so back to that this week.

As an aside, I have also add to my blog the ability for you to chat with me, if I'm on-line, you can use the Instant Messenger box on the right to give me words of encouragement!!

And finally, I'd like to congratulate Rob and Dick for an excellent performance in the Triathlon last week, apparently Rob just sneaked the win from under Dick's nose, but well done both.