Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
Time To Relax
by Russell Turner - 21:29 on 08 October 2017
The hectic weekend is over: a gig, the Black Isle Gathering, the Ness Book Fest. I deserved the chicken tikka rogan josh I bought on the way home to eat while watching the Strictly results (Go Team Calman!) in a home filled with cats but devoid of Matchgirl, who’s off gallivanting in Shetland again. There’s no stopping her.
Despite that, I still found time this morning for my third marathon training day, which involved another brisk walk interspersed with three 30-second bursts of running. The cautious build-up continues. After two dull-weather sessions I’ve now learned that sun and a breeze make a big difference to the effort involved.
Matchgirl, who’s stopped smirking every time I talk about my athletic ambition, got serious when I returned home and instructed me in some warm-down stretches, most of which I’ve already forgotten. She also gave me links to websites offering help to novice runners and to another offering clothing for the well dressed runner modelled by muscular hunks and serious-faced women thirty years my junior. I suspect that when she returns I’ll meet lots of staff at her favourite running stores.
She’s also instructed me to choose a six-week couch to 5k training plan. I’ll begin on Tuesday, with or without the appropriate kit. It’s not long until April.
My estimate that one in ten entrants won a place in the London Marathon ballot failed to take into account that many of the 40,000 runners are on charity places. Only 17,500 are ballot winners, which means that the odds of my success were closer to one in 22. Lucky me.
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