Still Running (weakly). Issue 23

PAST – inspiration – I am a sucker for athletics biographies, as you can imagine, and the two books that I am currently reading are The Dirtiest Race in History: Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis and the 1988 Olympic 100 metres final, and Shaul Ladany’s autobiography, King of the Road, From Bergen-Belsen to the Olympic Games.

The first tells the story of that race, reminding us that six of the eight finalists tested positive for drugs at some point, most famously Johnson (who had won gold in a world record) at those very games. The second recounts the struggles of an Israeli 50km race walker, who not only survived the Holocaust but also the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre of his compatriots.

The contrast between the two lies not only in the fact that one deals with the shortest event on the Olympic athletics calendar and the other with the longest, but also in the value systems explored. Whilst the former is all about drugs, money, cover-ups, reputations, corruption, trash-talking and bitter rivalries, the latter deals in deeper, perhaps more important truths.

PRESENT – perspiration – “I ate a lot of cocktail sausages on the way, so it’s been a bit of a picnic really,” said Carla Molinaro at the end of her record-breaking Land’s End to John o’ Groats run (often known as LEJOG.) A picnic it most certainly wasn’t, as Molinaro completed the roughly 874-mile journey in 12 days 0 hours 30 minutes and 14 seconds, from 16th to 28th July 2020.

Molinaro ran and walked all through the last night to secure the record, battling headwinds, rain and generally atrocious conditions across the northernmost tip of Scotland. Even the guys accompanying her were exhausted at the end: “We’ve been out in this stuff all night, keeping her going,” said one on video, indicating the storm outside the car window. “She’s asleep in the other car now.”

And on Sunday 5th November 2023, Carla won the World 50km Championships in India, running the 31.1-mile course in 3:18:22, leading Great Britain and Northern Ireland women to team gold medals too.

With outstanding opposition from around the world and temperatures reaching 30 degrees (showing the Clapham Chaser’s toughness in hot as well as cold conditions), that probably wasn’t a picnic either.

FUTURE – suggestion – “Anyone can be fit; it’s being hard that’s hard.” Winter is upon us, and, with it, weather that will test our running mettle.

Don’t be the one hiding in the car with the heater on, waiting until the last possible moment to line up for the race. Don’t be the one pulling the duvet over your head to avoid the noise of the rain on the window AND your morning run. Don’t be the one compromising the value of your speed session by not warming up properly in the wind and the sleet.

You know deep down that you’ll feel a lot better, physically and mentally, once you embrace the challenge and start moving.