Blood, rain, and egg on my face!

04 Feb 2008

I've have increased my training somewhat now that the run seems to be so close! In keeping with my general plan, I've been doing a number of 'light' runs during the week, followed a big run on Sunday.

Tuesday 29th January: Again in the park next to my flat (Desa de la Villa), 20 minutes fast run.
Friday 1st February: Same park, 75 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised that this seemed easy!
Sunday 3rd February: Big run! 128 minutes in a park called El Retiro. This was my toughest run to date!

I have mainly been training on flat ground. In fact, I have only been training on flat ground! It was my intention to start incorporating hills into my big runs to make them more realistic. Meeting my friend Agent Smith (pseudonym for this blog) seemed like a good opportunity to meet half way and try a new running venue – a park called El Retiro, or The Retirement. Mmmmm, not the most encouraging name considering the event I'm training for! Anyhow, it was a brisk day, 11am. Armed with my new ActionAid T shirt, a cereal bar, and two small water bottles, we began the run. It normally takes about 20 minutes to fall into a comfortable rhythm, these 20 minutes can be a little tough sometimes. However, 4 minutes in and we hit a looong hill. Ooof, that was tough. Shortly after, another hill; arrghhh! So we begin to chat about the race, training, and what have you. Agent Smith has a brother who is pretty much a professional tri-athlete, so he has been feeding him with helpful tips and advice, some of which Agent Smith passed on to yours truly. Did you know that many marathon runners use Vaseline? I almost fell over when he told me this. Yes, it's true. Coming up to 2 hours of running, and friction becomes your enemy – armpits, even your crotch (well, for men at least so I'm told), and apparently nipples. “Nipples?”, I hear you say. They rub against your tshirt, and if there is enough friction, they can eventually bleed! Hohoho, was my response to this. I have enough hair on my chest to protect them – no worries there!

We realised after a while, that this park is actually a very popular place for runners. We literally passed scores of fellow runners – running clubs or just people out for a Sunday run. But we didn't pass all of these people because we were so fit and fast. They were all running in the opposite direction! Funny that. We seemed to be continually running uphill without finding much in the way of downhill to compensate. One lap of this park took us about 25 minutes, and I swear that we ought to have gained some altitude by the end. It rained too from halfway through the first lap onwards – we were soaked, tshirts clinging.

At 105 minutes, Agent Smith had to leave, so I soldiered on regardless – it was cold and wet - I wanted to finish another lap up to where my car was parked, or at least pass the 120 minute mark. After stopping for a quick picture thanks to a couple taking a stroll in the rain, I went straight home. No warm down, no stretching - I just wanted to get to a nice hot shower.

So, stripping off, I had a white running tshirt on under my brand new ActionAid tshirt. I noticed that some of the red colour had run around the shoulder area – not a problem, and no surprise considering that it was raining. Then I noticed some more red on the chest area to the right. “Oh, thats an odd place for colour to run” I thought. “No, it can't be, can it?” Yes, pride does come before a fall. Both nipples were suddenly very sore, and my right one was bleeding - I didn't know whether to laugh or cry in the shower!