Half Way House

If anyone is out there reading this and you've switched over from Disarm, you are very welcome! Thanks to the wonders of google and blogspot I have managed to set this up all by myself. But you are not here to hear about my IT expertise, you want to know how the running is going don't you? Well by Saturday I had achieved 2 milestones. The first was to get halfway through my training and the second was to have done it without taking any breaks. Last time I prepared for a long distance run, my timetable was ripped to shreds as I succumbed to colds and injury. This time round, I have managed to avoid the colds, because it is summer and I am also a bit more canny about not overtraining. And although I am nursing a sore foot, by dint of rest, ice and reducing my runs to twice a week, I have so far managed to keep myself going.

The previous week's hill run had made the foot quite sore, so I decided instead that I would do a flat speed session. A friend at my running club told me that one of the coaches was doing speed work on a Tuesday so I thought I'd give it a try. I arrived slightly flustered having driven up and down the road looking for the landmark of the phone box only to realise it was obscured by a hedge. But luckily we hadn't started and I was ready to join in a gentle warm up. We ran slowly up the path, and when we turned round, he suggested we go fast for 2 lampposts and slow for 2. I thought this was the start of the speedwork, I really went for it; and then discovered to my dismay that,no, we were still warming up. We got back to the start and were given our task to run as fast as we could for 5 minutes, with a target distance (helpfully marked in the path), take a rest for 2 minutes and then run fast back again. Being a novice at this, I took off with the pack only to see them disappear into the distance, and be overtaken by the members of the group who run at my pace. "Ha,ha," they said "We thought you went off too fast". Still I made it to over 900m, which was way past my target of 800. But I struggled on the return and all those super fast people who had left me at the blocks overtook me. There's nothing like running with others to teach you a little humility. The rest of the session was like this, I managed to go fast out but slowed considerably on the way back. But it was a great fun, as I was happy with pace I managed, and enjoyed (as I always do) the camaraderie and encouragement of my fellow runners. Something I love about the running community is that it is full of people who inspire you, support you when you are struggling and cheer you on when you do well. I love running alone because it is my personal time to think and pray, but I love running with others because they keep me going and challenge me. Not unlike my friends in the peace movement!

I suffered for my evening glory the next day with an extremely painful foot. So I bought an ankle support, iced the foot regularly and took some ibuprofen for a couple of days. This was enough to get me ready for my next big challenge, an hour and 3/4 run. So far I've been doing my runs from home into town via parks and back along the river. But on Saturday I decided that I wanted a change, so I went over to Shotover Country Park. Shotover is one of those wonderful English creations, a country park right on the doorstep of a major town. We were living here over a year before I discovered that I could run from home.In ten minutes I can be transported from suburbia, across the busy ring road into the most peaceful and tranquil woods. I haven't been for a while and I was glad of the shade of the trees which cut out a lot of the heat of the afternoon.

Somebody had told me that you can run as far as Wheatley across the fields, but I wasn't quite sure how to get there. So I ran to Horspath (about a mile and a half) and then ran round aimlessly until I found another magical place. Some wonderful environmental person/people has created a little conservation area from a former railway line. I ran up a very steep hill, through woodland glades in dappled sunlight. It was pretty hard work, but for some reason a line from the film "Finding Nemo" came into my head. When the going gets tough there is a fish call Dory who says"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming". "Just keep running, just keep running" was very helpful when my head was light, breathing painful and my legs like lead. And it was worth it to reach the top of the former railway bridge and look down the old railway which is now overtaken by woodland shrubs and small trees. There was noone around and the way down I felt completely at peace.

Something about the light and the vivid green trees made me think about jungles and rainforests. And in that instant I thought of Colombia and the peace community of San Jose de Apartado, another project supported by the International Peace Fund. In the midst of extraordinary violence by government military and paramilitary forces and by FARC guerillas, this community has chosen to make a stand and refuse to take part in the war, carry weapons or support either side. This is despite the murder of 35 of its members, including most recently Francisco Puerto, a campesino leader who was murdered on a bus by paramilitaries on May 14th 2007. The community continues to suffer intimidation and threats from paramilitaries, with the full collusion of the government, yet they stay faithful to their vision of a nonviolent and just society. The vision of San Jose de Apartado in the midst of such conflict comes at a very heavy cost, but it is a necessary vision if people in Colombia are to be able to enjoy the beauty of their country as peacefully as we can.

I emerged from the little wood halfway through my run, in time to take some revolting sports drink (disgustingly sweet but it gives you the legs to get home)and turn for home. An uneventful meander across fields and through woods, only marked by my running into a boggy patch, nearly losing my shoes, and turning my pristine new trainers black in seconds. Oh well, at least it means I have officially now worn them in.

My foot has been sore ever since, and I have been trying to keep it under control by compression, ice and rest. I don't want it to get any worse, but I do want to feel I can manage the run. So I have decided that at the end of week 7 when my time running has reached 2 hours, I will take a break, see a doc and maybe do some swimming. That way I hope to be able to keep myself together to manage the crucial last month's training, and more importantly get round the 13.1 miles.

I'm a bit late posting this, so I have actually come back from my first week 7 run tonight which was a bit of a personal triumph. But I'll save that for next week when I've got the 2 hours under my belt.

Bet you can't wait can you?