There's been a distinct lack of nonsense sprawled across these boards over the last week, so I thought I'd better check-in and top it up.
So this week is W3 for me, run 1 was Monday morning, run 2 was Wednesday evening and tonight I will tie a bow on this puppy.
I struggled on Monday, my legs were alright but my chest sounded like I swallowed a flute. My clickity knees were looking after the percussion so all I needed was a couple of bells hanging off my man boobs to become a one-man band. Tonight I might try it and go for a rendition of Mike Olfield's "Portsmouth".
Run 2 was actually a really good run. It was one of those where base expectations were so low that it was probably in the realms of 'barely satisfactory' for normal folk but it felt like an absolute phenomenom to me. I was pacing the house for hours afterwards, slowly shaking my head in disbelief like someone who's just come up with a cure for ingrowing toenails (painful little bleaters they are) saying, "This changes everything".
Tonight we'll see if I should invest in a back-mounted bass drum or an athlete's leotard.
As I mentioned previously, I've been coerced into signing-up for a 10K race. I'll be running the Southampton 10K on 5th May 2019 and given that on 1st January 2019 I got out of breathe buttering my toast, it's pretty much me going nought-to-sixty quicker than a Dacia Duster...with equal inelligence. Who designed that car? It must've been someone with a head like punched clay and a desire to drive something that makes him look good.
If I've got any hope of meeting this challenge, I need something a little bit stronger than the C25K house wine. Bust open the whiskey cabinet and hand me that funnel.
I've signed myself for the Gym (I hate the Gym), so my week now consists of running on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Gym-ing on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and trying really hard not to die on Sunday. Some chiselled monster has written me up a programme of cardio and strength training to help me towards my goal. These people are sadists. Watch out for them.
I was worried that my life of wont and abandonment would kill me. Turns out I was way off.
But I've been frustrated with myself for too long and it was high-time to set a target that I needed to fight for. We've all walked our own paths that led us here and this is my journey. It's as polarised as everything else in my life and is a case of soaring or crashing and burning with very little in between, but isn't that the essence of achievement? Where is reward without risk? My path is now a windy one that will take me up steep inclines and round the mouth of a volcano but I truly believe that it will take me straight into the setting sun, holding hands with the people who truly matter.
That's my motivation. That's what makes the crazy worth it.
Belief is the biggest factor for all of us. Whatever we're trying to achieve, all the time we are racked with self-doubt and shackled by our own nagging voices that incessantly whisper dibaragement in our ears, we will struggle.
Performance = potential - interference
Cast off the interference, silence the inner critic and believe in yourself. Everything else will follow. Find inspiration from all those that have been here before us and succeeded.
Anyway, need to stop. My nipple-bells have turned up.
Happy running!