Anything But Running

In theory I had 10 days to think about the race by now; in reality I have done all I could not to think about it.

Well, that's not entirely true. The day after the race I found it impossible NOT to think it, and despite the fact that only a few hours earlier I had sworn to myself not to ever do anything like that ever again, I suddenly found myself looking for 24 races for the rest of the year, seeing if I can give it one last go, maybe a quick turnaround at Tooting Bec in September or maybe a trip to Barcelona in December, which should have been easy to sell to the missus.

However, eventually I came to my senses. I haven't gotten any further as to why my performances have dropped so badly, apart from the theory that I have taken more and more out of my body with each race, never fully recovering, and eventually the tank was empty.

I'm only guessing here, but it's the best I can come up with. But doing another 24 hours race so soon from now would be disastrous if that were the case.

I'm not going to rush into anything, neither into retirement nor back into training. I haven't run a single step since Irdning, though with a week's holiday left in Austria (and 2 days in Munich), followed immediately by a trip to the states for work training I had plenty of things to occupy me.

I'll probably put on 2 stones before I get back home. Portion sizes in America are something else, and the food is damn good here. Seattle is a cool place with a great vibe, though that's ever so slightly offset by a week of really intense training, not helped by a brutal jet lag. You'd think running 24 hours would prepare you for that but it doesn't, and waking up at 2 am despite being comatosely tired at 10 pm isn't great.

I actually brought some running gear, just in case of emergency you know, but it has remained in the suitcase so far and I don't think it will see use.

Right now I haven't got any plans on how to proceed. Thanks to some luck in the entry lottery I'm signed up for Berlin in September, which I will take as a fun run while not not being particularly well prepared. I'll do some parkruns, now that I don't have to drive to Kerry every weekend any more, and I might even do some shorter races, just for fun, and to do something different from the big, slow miles I have done last year. But mostly I'll take it easy and eventually I'm sure I'll think of something that will excite me again.