… an excellent way for an Englishman to see a great deal of Chicago, all in the same day.
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Posted in 2003, Chicago, the marathon journey
Dear Andy
Running has taken a back seat lately. After Stratford, I took a week off before starting to explore the lanes and footpaths from my new office near Gatwick.
There are some good routes, particularly if you are interested in observing commercial aviation – no, actually some pleasant runs towards Charlwood once you get out of the Gregory’s Girl filmsets of the Crawley housing estates.
Nevertheless, I felt more than a bit sore and a good deal more jaded for a solid six weeks. With Chicago last autumn and Stratford this spring, I had been in almost continuous marathon training for 11 months, so it shouldn’t have surprised me. It was only really when work got hectic for a couple of weeks just recently that it forced me to back right off enough to make it comfortable and enjoyable again now.
Sadly, I never did satisfactorily crack the back-to-back weekend runs from Hal Higdon’s Intermediate I programme. Hal says that if you can run a 20 miler when tired, the race itself will be easy. He’s obviously right, but I just wasn’t up to it, so instead I ran one of my mid-week runs as a tempo run. That worked brilliantly, for getting half marathon PBs at least, and to get me into the form for giving the marathon a good crack.
Along the way, I learned a couple of lessons. Firstly, to minimise racing whilst training, because whilst enormous fun and great for confidence, each time it cost me 2-3 weeks of mental and physical recovery. And to get more rest and have more fun when I run. It is great to be in shape, (some of the time) and I probably run faster than I could have even 20 years ago, but there is so much more going on now and I need to refresh more mentally and physically. That’s me, anyway.
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Posted in 2003, the marathon journey
“O, how this spring of love resembleth the uncertain glory of an April day” – Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 1, Sc. 3
Picture a fine and blustery English spring day in Stratford-upon- Avon. I’ve returned from Guildford to my home town for this weekend of processions marking the Shakespeare Birthday celebrations.
An East End boy, I moved to Warwickshire at the age of 9, and these streets I know so well are today lined with flags from over a hundred nations, flying briskly in the breeze.
“Now go we in content…” – As You Like It, Act 1, Sc. 3
Lining up outside the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in warm sunshine, reflecting on London and Chicago behind me, I am instantly humbled when my neighbour tells me this is his 126th marathon. Just the third for me and the day’s long road is frankly unimaginable at this moment, but soon we start and it all begins.
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Today saw a very pleasant four miles along the River Wey towpath on a sunny Spring afternoon. That’s more or less how I started running, almost six years ago, and the perfect final outing before my third (and reputedly last) marathon.
London, Chicago… and er, Stratford-upon-Avon.
Well, it’s my home town, where I grew up, and I know those lanes like the back of my hand. It’s the perfect place for my farewell from international athletics.
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Posted in 2003, Shakespeare Country, the marathon journey
#1 – 2001 London – a world class marathon, in the city where I now live.
#2 – 2002 Chicago – a World Record Marathon, the finest and fastest in the US.
#3 – 2003 Stratford-upon-Avon – my hometown marathon, with closing symmetry in the town where I grew up.
My perfect marathon tour has just a month left and I have two questions to ask:
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Posted in 2003, the marathon journey
Dear Andy
A marathon is such a huge experience. Afterwards, it is very hard to capture how you felt at the time, but it is so important to try. If someone asked you in a year’s time, you’d say, well it was great, or, it was fine, my knee got sore for a while but I made it.
But there is so much more to it than that, so many more moments which go to make up the marathon tapestry. You don’t want to forget them. Ever.
Chicago (sorry, “Shick-aggo”) has taken a long time to settle down for me. I don’t think it will, finally, for a long time. But in a way, it still continues. More than anything, the thought I share with you is that the marathon is a journey. It’s one I am so glad I made.
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Posted in 2001-2002, Chicago, the marathon journey
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roads of stone 