1095miles – running blog

This has, admittedly, been quite a bad week for me. Since running the Portsmouth Coastal Half Marathon a couple of weeks ago, my legs have ached like never before and last weekend’s sojourn to the Peak District did no help at all.

Throughout the week, I’ve come close to downing tools, too tired to carry on, legs in too much pain and mentally, hitting a wall with the sheer boredom of not only having to get up every day and run but to also then find the time and the inclination to try and write something new about it.

Last night before bed though, I sat down to watch the first part of Eddie Izzard’s Comic Relief Challenge, Marathon Man, on BBC3. For anyone who’s not heard, he ran 43 marathons in 51 days for charity. It’s the kind of thing even the best endurance runners would find tough.

He started the challenge though with no running behind him, he was 47, overweight and more used to wearing high heels than proper trainers. And yet he completed the challenge largely thanks to a positive mental attitude. (Okay, so if I was being petty I would say he might have been helped by the fact he’s a millionaire, doesn’t have to worry about working for a living and had a team following him that massaged both his ego and his feet.)

But it did show me that the human body, however unfit and untrained, can get through some appallingly painful conditions, providing your head is in the right place.

It obviously worked in inspiring me… for this morning, the sun was out, there was a chill in the air, no wind and it was almost perfect running conditions as I set off around Streatham Common. And funnily enough, the legs are stiff, but the pain seems to be subsiding again.

For all those who’ve stood by me during the week and offered notes of sympathy and encouragement, thanks. And one thousand and ninety five apologies for being such a whingeing bastard.

Click here for a Google Map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3.04
Target: 501
Miles to date: 634.40

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