Important advice no runner can afford to ignore

The 
PAST PARTICIPLE of RUN
is
RUN

It's not "ran". You don't say "I have ran the London marathon", it's "I have run the London marathon".

Anyone else live in always uphill bizarroworld?

When I leave my house for a run

When I'm returning home from my run

Don't concentrate on the finger

Anyone who has seen Enter the Dragon will be familiar with this quote from Bruce Lee

It's a great metaphor for running. You can obsess about pace too much and forget the simple joy of just getting out there and exploring. I realised recently that a lot of runners seemingly concentrate on the finger all the fucking time. Strava makes it even worse. You see these fuckers on there making excuses for their "slow" pace in the run name all the time.

I was the same for a while, broke myself of that habit early though.

Yeah I'll have some finger races, really concentrated to get a sub 2 half at Thorpe this year (nailed it by 17 seconds), and if I manage to get an uninterrupted 16 week plan completed before Brighton next year I'll be setting a marathon goal but for the most part don't forget that you can make running fun and fulfilling without chasing a pb or feeling that you are training for something.

Look at me. I tend to be grinning most of the time when I'm out for a run. Especially on days like today when it's sunny weather and a long weekend. Smiley twat that I am...

So what's the secret of this running nirvana? Simple. Just switch off and run. Today I had a vague idea where I was planning to head but I set out with no goal in mind, just let the music, weather, and feel dictate my pace and direction. So load up the "Really Long Runs" playlist and off we go.

Thing about this playlist is it has everything from Disney soundtracks to Norwegian black metal. Shuffle it and you could be singing along to Tina Turner then all of a sudden some narly death metal kicks in and you choose the hilly path. Brilliant. At one point today I found myself sprinting up a really steep hill to the Rocky soundtrack and yes I punched the air and span round at the top.

Took some photos too. Can't do that if you are segment hunting.

Sunshine, woods, music. Would have been a shame if I'd just focussed on the finger.

It's Brighton Marathon Weekend!

Sat on the train heading down to Brighton for tomorrow's marathon and I remembered that I have this blog.

It's pretty timely really as although the five k every day concept was what kick started my running it was training for this race last year that really made me feel like a "runner". Whatever that means.

I found it a bit of a struggle keeping this updated beyond the intended purpose of logging my 5 k every day runs as there are so many more experienced runners out there producing so much quality content  What could I add? Well it just occurred to me that adding the voice of inexperience is valuable too.

So here are some random thoughts from my first year as a runner, a year in which I completed 2 marathons (slowly) a 50km ultramarathon (slowly), ran a trail half marathon on the hottest day of the year (very slowly!), and finally broke the 2 hour barrier for a half. In no particular order 10 chunks of wisdom

1. Don't worry about pace - goals are good but running should be enjoyable. Save the pb hunting for big races.

2. Running is fun. If you aren't finding it fun slow down and run until you enjoy it.

3. Parkrun is brilliant. Do them as often as possible.

4. Running Commentary Podcast is also brilliant. Listen to it while running.

5. Read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

6. Endorphins are addictive

7. Your brain will work better

8. You can run much further than you think. Especially if you stop and take in the view from time to time.

9. If this patient zero sniffy fucker across the aisle infects me with whatever lurgy he has I'm not going to be happy.

10. You can learn a lot from the online running community, but you can learn a lot more just by getting out there and finding your running mojo.

With a bit of luck I'll keep this updated a bit more often, especially as I'm working my way towards the 53 mile Race to the King in June. Or maybe I'll forget and won't update until I head down to the Brighton marathon next year.

Either way be cool

Dan