Clothing is now causing me obsessive concern following a deterioration in the forecast.
All week it’s been showing Sunday as 14 C, sunshine and light southerly wind (perfect).
Now suddenly it shows 11 C, rain and wind.
Meltdown scenario.
A big question then, dependent on the weather. Firstly, should I wear the VICTA tee-shirt – warm but cotton, or should I go for the technical tee shirt (cooler, more comfortable) ? Naturally I can change and discard layers mid-race, but I’ll have to retain whichever layer I decide to put my number on.
Technical under cotton works well, and would show the charity logo… but then I have to keep the cotton on all race and it will get heavy and uncomfortable later. How about technical under cotton under technical, and then discard the inner two layers at 12 miles… Decisions decisions decisions. It’s all too complicated. Maybe I’ll just stay at home instead. That might be a good idea, no ?
Second idea, then – considering the size of my bloated stomach this morning, I think maybe I’ll wear the chicken suit after all …
As the rewardingly obscure, and reputedly mad, poet Don Niguel de Jamón Oeste might have put it:
“Correr como en sueño es algo mas bueno
Que correr como pollo, con estómago lleno –
Al fin del concurso llegas, si, y porqué no ?
Pues hombre, queda corriendo, y sin ningún freno.”
Which perhaps could be very loosely translated as:
Running like a dream is all very good,
But you’re stuffing that stomach much more than you should.
To get to the finish, don’t stop till you drop
And run like a chicken, mate, before it’s too late.
Related articles:
76. A year of running, rainily
100. Half a million steps
115. A postcard from Greenwich Park
63. Henry VIII’s consumption and the rocky road to running ruin
51. London Calling
roads of stone 