Humbled by Bournemouth

Enjoying the seaside

A photo posted by Edward (@uncertainrunner) on Nov 22, 2015 at 2:58am PST

I have been doing a lot of thinking since my last post, as I wanted to really reflect on what happened at Bournemouth. I think my initial reaction to not getting under three hours at Bournemouth was one of trying to look at what I did wrong. Now that I have had time to think about the race I see it in a much more positive light and feel like even though I did not get the time that I aimed for, I did well under the circumstances. So really this post is about how I viewed my race with hindsight. Inevitably my new job has conspired to stop me from posting twice a month, as I had originally planned, but I am still happy with posting once a month. When things calm down at work I aim to try and keep to writing two posts a month or even just updating things about myself on my blog. 

Battling with Bournemouth

This blog post is going to be one of two parts about Bournemouth, as to cut a long story short, things did not go according to plan with how I had envisaged. I will discuss that in the second blog post, but in this one I want to talk about the race and how it went. It is still quite ‘raw’ for me as it is only a week since I ran the Bournemouth Marathon. So if there is anything that comes across as me feeling sorry for myself or like I am moaning then forgive me. It’s simply me trying to describe how I felt at the time.

For Whom Bournemouth Tolls

So I think it has been over a month since I have made a post, and this in turn throws out the intention of my last post- namely to post more consistently around once or every two weeks. However I have been very busy over the last month, so my lack of writing has not been in vain. I successfully completed the National Three Peaks Challenge, upped my mileage before the Bournemouth Marathon, recovered from injury, started a new job, replaced my Brooks Ghost 7s and ran the Ealing Half Marathon. So it has been a packed month between August/September to say the least. Being this busy has taught me the importance of thinking through what my blog posts should be about and keeping the word count well below 1,000 words.

Looking to the Future

1 Corinthians 9:26 “Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air”

I have been doing some thinking about what the purpose of my blog is for. It is approaching a year since I made my first blog post about running. I still remember the Joseph Campbell quote that I ended with and I still believe in that quote. In some ways my thoughts about blogging and running have not changed since that article, but I am starting to get a better understanding of why I want to write about running. At a basic level it is to do with sharing and documenting what I enjoy about running as well as the challenges that I face; at a deeper level it is more about trying to find my best potential in running and realising at the same time that the very act of running takes me beyond myself. It may sound idealistic, but it is truly what I feel, and as in my last post I want to aim for something ambitious so that I can look back on my life beyond the world of work and money. Therefore I thought the quote from Corinthians was appropriate, as I see it as just as much a challenge as a statement about why I run and blog about it.

Preparing for Bournemouth

So it has been a while since my last blog post. Over the last month I have been in the process of changing jobs, which is great, but I am in the handover stage in my old job and inevitably this has meant things being busier between July and August. So a lot in terms of my running training has taken place, but frustratingly I have not been able to write about it. So this post is really a catch up on my activities in July and early August.

The main race I did in July was the Wimbledon Half Marathon. The course was relatively difficult, as there was a tough incline verging on being a hill for the first 1.5 miles, and the weather was awful. Rain and wind turned the dirt/ gravel foot path into a mud bath, where I competed with fellow runners to avoid puddles and seek grip with my lightweight shoes. The key positives to take from the race is that my resolve stayed intact pretty well throughout it, there was a slight wobble in my mentality just after coming up to half way through the race. Having the wind and the rain there gave me a good preparation to how things could go at any of the marathons I do in October, which was helpful. Also I came in at only 11 seconds off my personal best- that was on a completely flat course; coming in 16^th place on my chip time.

The Long, the Short and the Hilly!

Since my last post about juggling running with the other things in my life and coping with runner’s knee I have done a surprising amount of racing across a variety of distances. From all this activity my knee has held up remarkably well and even though it is stiff, it is not as painful as it was when I first starting having problems with it. From all this running across June/ July There are three key things that I now know are within my control to make my knee better and keep it pain free:

1.       Get more sleep. I have definitely not been disciplined enough with getting to sleep on time and I think it would help my knee feeling looser after long runs.

2.       Looking at buying some new shoes. My main long distance running shoes are wearing through to the soles and have little or no tread in them.

3.       Continuing with my stretching programme, knee strengthening exercises and substituting cross-training for running dependent upon how I feel.

Juggling Running and Life

I haven’t posted on my blog for what feels like an eternity. It has certainly made me realise how much I enjoy writing about running and where I want to take this blog. I have been coming up with some ideas about I could develop Running to Some Uncertain Purpose, but all of these will take time and some patience in how I fit all my ideas into one coherent shape. It seems to be the trickiest part of running, is having the patience to keep at something when it begins to create friction alongside other parts of your life. That has been the main reason for my lack of presence on this blog- something had to give. A number of work issues popped up in quick succession and I was left with a choice; keep running and don’t blog about it or blog about running but don’t engage in a sport that keeps you physically and mentally fit. My choice was the former, but at that time loads of things seemed to be happening with my personal running journey as well as within the running world. 

 In the world of running it would definitely have to be the allegations of Alberto Salazar participating in doping and also inhabiting the ‘grey area’ of what is and isn’t legal in performance enhancement for his athletes. From a UK perspective these allegations seem to have a global reach, as once again it brings up the spectre of doping in elite running. Paula Radcliffe has been outspoken in her criticism of doping in marathon running and it was only at the beginning of this year that Kenya’s Rita Jeptoo was found to have been doping. There have also been rumours of doping within ultra-running as well. Also by Salazar being accused of doping it has potential implications for his two star athletes: Galen Rup and Mo Farah. From conversations with other runners about this I have found there to be a variety of views about what the allegations of Salazar mean. For some it just shows that at the very highest levels of competitive running personal rivalries can lead to bitter recriminations that eventually spill out into the media, others think it is the BBC and ProPublica trying to smear one of the world’s best marathon runners, many people are worried about the damage it will do to the sport that is not as well funded or widely watched as say football and a few just want to find out the truth. I would put myself in the last two categories. Hopefully this will not be running’s version of the Lance Armstrong scandal. Whatever is going on I think that there should be consideration about how these allegations are handled (including the people who are facing the allegations), that if anything untoward has happened then this needs to be shared in a transparent manner and that we should try to remember the many positive things running brings to people all over the world. My own view is that when there is too much money at stake in terms of sponsorship, media coverage, etc. It can lead to people going too far in the pursuit of winning. Hopefully whatever happens, this issue can be resolved sooner rather than later.