Still Running (weakly). Issue 50

PAST – inspiration – Ron Hill was worried. It was a long day’s journey on Monday from the Windsor Hotel in London to the Mexico City Olympics of 1968. How was he going to fit his two runs a day in? The team reached the hotel late on the Sunday night.

“It was 11.30pm when I checked into a shared room with Lynn Davies, Mike Bull and Andy Todd. I bet they thought I was a bit mad as I changed into my running gear, waited until just after midnight, just into Monday in fact, then went out for a 5-mile dark, leaf-fallen run round the perimeter of Hyde Park; my first session of the day.

“I got a pint bottle of milk off Bob, the porter, drank this, cleaned my teeth and was in bed for 1.15. At 8 o’clock, the same morning, I was out for a 9 mile run round Hyde Park; after that I could relax on my long journey, safe in the knowledge that my two daily sessions were complete.

“I’d run twice a day, with once on Sundays, ever since the Tokyo Olympics four years previously, without missing one run. I wasn’t going to start now.”

PRESENT – perspiration – Ron Hill was European and Commonwealth marathon champion and multiple world record holder, but is perhaps best known for his running streak of over 52 years!

The adherence to such an unrelenting task would today be considered ill-advised and even pig-headed by many running coaches, although no one could deny that its sheer simplicity and binary nature – you either ran today or you didn’t – can offer a welcome lifeline for a training schedule that might otherwise lack motivation.

I know many runners who currently carry a daily running streak, and I remember here particularly clubmate Wally Thorpe, who died in April. Once he got near and into his 80s, Wally knew all too well that running speed, running times and race results were not his goals anymore, and so he set himself the simple task of putting one foot in front of the other every single day.

FUTURE – suggestion – But can an RED (Run Every Day) habit be compatible with pursuing serious running goals?

I think that it is certainly possible but does require a lot of discipline.

So you’ve done a hard race or a taxing session yesterday, and today you go out to jog the one or two miles that will maintain your streak – but don’t let the run turn into anything more than a jog – however good you feel and whoever you bump into on the way.

It’s the day before that marathon you’ve been training years for, a day that would mean complete rest for anybody else, but you have to do your run. OK then, go out and jog round as gently as you can and pray that you have left not even an ounce of damage in those precious leg muscles.

You can just about get away with it, but you’re playing with fire…………..