Tag: Running
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London Marathon, how many miles?
The cruellest people on Sunday, the 25th of April, weren’t the old people with their arms out like pterodactyls, they weren’t the drunks offering support by getting lairy with crying runners, they weren’t the ones dropping their mostly full water bottles in the middle of the road or the ones walking with their friends side […]
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Nepal, an education
Arati is 10 years old, she attends Shree Yagamati Lower Secondary School, and lives in Nepal. £10 would sponsor Arati’s education for an entire month but she is not one of the 80 children being sponsored through Global Action Nepal. She lives in Kapan Village, Kathmandu, which has a population of 15,340 and where women […]
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Running, the bad and the good
I just had the weariest run in about a year. I set out towards Pill and I passed by the harbour, the suspension bridge, the fields, the trees, the Avon and all that is so beautiful but I hardly noticed it this time. My head was down and all I could see was the pebbly, […]
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Breakfast thoughts
Before a long run, my usual breakfast is porridge boiled up with water and augmented with yoghurt (either vanilla or Greek style/honey) and bananas. Within two hours of eating I am ready to go out and I am happy for this to be my breakfast on the day of the run. However, how do I […]
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Long run, 29km around Bristol
I could have run a little bit more than 29km, but I had reached back home and I didn’t at that point have the creativity to figure out where else to go. I remember getting to Pill, just next to Easton-on-Gordano, and running past a playground and down a path before weaving away from a […]
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Marathon, a bit of a panic
I’m trying to remember the exact words and I almost have them but not quite. A friend was saying something about the London Marathon about either starting slowly or not going fast. Slower than even the half-marathon pace. It’s a sentiment echoed by the New York Times as well in the article The Best Marathon […]
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Bath Half Marathon, March 7 2010
Sunday was sunny and beautiful but oh so cold and I regretted not running with gloves on. By the end of the race I could barely feel my hands and my fingers were swollen. I rushed to grab my bag after queuing for 20 minutes to get back in to the runner’s village. I added […]
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Taking the fun out of hard work
My initial feeling at deciding to run a marathon was a quiet, bubbling, enthusiastic sense of excitement. Not for the completion or the success but mainly for the practice, the training and perseverance required. I pictured night after night of going out running around the harbour, towards the train station and around Queen Square, infrequently […]
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Irritated, not damaged
I lie down on the bed in the Sports Clinic and start to wonder if there’s a special word for this item of furniture which adjusts in height. It can’t be just a ‘bed’ I think. That sounds too personal. Why am I lying down in some strange place with hands over my legs. What […]
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5km: a nice distance
Twice this week I’ve heard myself say ‘5km is a nice distance’. The first time was in a conversation about running while lying down at the Bristol Sports Medicine clinic having my knee ‘mobilised’. The second was to a friend who was deciding whether to take part in race for life this year. The osteopath […]