Still Running (weakly). Issue 09

PAST – inspiration – “Can we have two golds?” “It’s possible.” On 1st August 2021, Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy won the Olympic high jump. That sentence in itself is historic. Until Barshim and Tamberi agreed to share the gold, this had not happened in an athletics event since 1912!

This is only possible in an event like the high jump where the two athletes had identical records all the way through the final. I don’t really have to say anymore except to point you towards the wonderful footage of friendship and celebration that you can find online.

PRESENT – perspiration – Completing the beautiful Mallards Pike parkrun in the Forest of Dean last Saturday 29th July represented my 999th consecutive race or parkrun finish, since I dropped out of the Barry 40 miles track race in March 1999. If I get round Alice Holt parkrun this Saturday, that will mean 1,000 uninterrupted races without abandoning.

There have been some near-misses – just making the summit ridge in time at the 2011 Cader Idris Fell Race, flirting with the cut-offs at the 2008 Alpine 78km Marathon in Davos, Switzerland, and my knee “going” during a Crystal Palace parkrun – but I should make it now!

But I’ll let you know next week – watch this space!!

FUTURE – suggestion – In all due modesty, resilience like the above is hard-won, but it is a vital foundation for any successful training programme. Call it consistency, commitment, dedication, mental strength or indeed resilience, the minimum requirement for any ambitious runner is to complete most of the sessions most weeks.

Most runners create habits; some of these turn into streaks. Consistent habits – running at least X miles a week including a long run and a speed session, unless you’re injured – are good. Obsessive streaks – Ron Hill “running” on crutches, Steve Till going out at midnight to make up his weekly mileage – are not.

How to get resilient, I have to say, is a major theme – perhaps THE major theme – of my book, The Run of Life. All you have to do is not give up!be done. What is YOUR “light bulb” target?