Intermission (Still)

Niamh already enquired what I'm writing on my blog when I'm not running. I made a few suggestions but most of them were dismissed out of hand (what's new!). Luckily this state of affairs won't last much longer.

I had a funny encounter the other day. I was cycling to work when a car pulled up alongside me and the driver shouted "well done in Connemara!". That's a first one.

My self-imposed exile from running is nearing its end, I will be back on the road on Saturday. I have already been asked a couple of times if not running is making me cranky. I'm not sure if they are concerned about my mental health or if I'm starting to get obnoxious without noticing, but I think I will just about manage the next three days without any major incidents. But I am definitely looking forward to running again, which is a good sign.

There is one last thing about Connemara, if you allow me to indulge myself. I only noticed it now, but looking at the pace chart from the Garmin track, you can see that from  mile 93 onwards I did a lot more walking breaks than before. I was not aware of it at the time, but all of a sudden I must have switched from mostly running with the odd walking break to mostly walking with the odd running break. I don't know if that has any real meaning, but for someone who hopes to be able to transfer that sort of race from 100 miles to a 24 hours race this is slightly worrying. If I want to break 220k I need to keep the pace up.

I am very much aware that over the years I have read countless of blog entries stating "I will now push on to the next level" only for the runner in question to more or less disappear from the horizon, be it because of a lack of hunger (they obviously never really meant it, which happens all the time) or injuries. After stating in my last post that I want to push on to the next level, I hope I won't be joining that particular group. I'm pretty sure lack of desire won't apply. I have not been injured in years, but the state of my achilles does have me worried. I count injuries as things that stop me from running, anything else is just a niggle and usually gets ignored (a surprisingly effective treatment). I hope I can keep it that way - I've had achilles issues before and they always went away eventually, though I do not remember it ever taking quite so long.