Trampled!

31 Jan 2008

So, how am I preparing? Well, fortunately I live next to a nice BIG park – very handy to go for a run when I get home from work, or at the weekends. I have a number of running routes mapped out through this park. Before I was trying to run long distances, I had one particular route that I liked a lot – it went up and down hills, in and out of trees – pretty much off the beaten track.

Now the thing is, this isn't your average tourist park, and not even the main flat path crossing the park is fully lit up at night – and it gets dark very early at this time of year! When its pretty dark, I stick to the flat path because there was this one time, about 11pm, I was galloping through the trees plugged into my mp3 player when the ground beneath me suddenly became soft and wobbly. Time itself actually slowed down as I pondered what could possibly be beneath my feet. Was I about to fall into some sort of animal trap? The whole area of ground was an infinite black... Then it occurred to me: oh dear, maybe I've stepped on a sleeping tramp!! So I stopped and strained my eyes, but couldn't make out a thing on the ground. It also occurred to me that if someone had just stepped on me, I'd be pretty angry! Fairly apprehensive, I hung around for a few moments more then ran off. Fast. I went back during the daytime – there was a mattress on the ground there, with some empty bottles of spirits. So no more running between trees at night!

On Sunday, I did a big test run – two hours running on flat ground in the park. At the end of it my poor knees were angry with me – I would have liked to have carried on, but I didn't want to do any damage.

In order to be fit for Sunday, I had my first dry Saturday night in how long?.... scratch that, I had my first dry Saturday night. Here is a picture of me taken by my shocked friends – with my cherry milkshake. Will never live it down!

I went for just a 20 min run last night, but much faster than I would usually go, and I have another long run planned for next Sunday with a mate who is also in the race...