After leaving the last post with a cliffhanger... ending I suppose I should quickly dash everyone's hopes of a dramatic conclusion and carry on with the story....
The previous post explained how I'd secured an entry, so what happened next? Well after the initial feeling of 'Oh ****, what have I just done?' had subsided it all got very exciting, I was invited to join a Facebook group for 2014 MdS entrants. Now I thought I was pretty cool having run a few marathons but it quickly became clear that was just a jog to the shops for some of these guys. 'Druids', 'Pilgrim', 'Race to the Stones' - I wasn't entirely clear at this point if I'd joined a running group or a pagan cult. Anyway I decided I'd better enter an 'Ultra', as anything over 26.2 miles is known. I found a nice 50km run around London in February that looked perfect for my first attempt. OK we need to start training (I tend to think of myself in the plural at times) - don't go, mad build up the mileage, lots of shorter runs to start and it will be fine...
...and it was. Until Christmas got in the way. After two weeks of hardly any running the obvious way to start 2013 is with a week of 50+ miles of running. Also we all know pain is a sign of weakness and your body's way of saying 'don't be a wuss, get on with it' - so when my groin/hip started to hurt the logical thing to do was to completely ignore it and carry on running until I actually couldn't run any more. To avoid doubt, please read the previous paragraph in a very sarcastic tone of voice.
So I'm now out of the Ultra, out of the Colchester half-marathon and missed the first eight weeks of the new Chelmsford Parkrun. Pain is your body's way of saying 'stop now or stop later for longer'. When I'm on the MdS option 2 is the one to go for but while training, option 1 every time.
Anyway we are now finally at 'Take 2'. The pain subsided, I gently got myself back into running and realised I really needed to find out more about this MdS thing. Fortunately there is this lovely bloke called Rory Coleman (www,rorycoleman.co.uk - check it out) who has complete ten MdS (you thought I was mental) and for a very small sum of money will tell you all you need to know about everything MdS related - at the end of the day he's also got you to run 26.2 miles around Cardiff whilst still learning about the MdS. So I've had a very enjoyable day with him, got my backpack sorted and am now slowly increasing my training, taking days off when I need them and generally listening to my body - so far its all going very well!
A very glib phrase often used in the context of the Mds is 'Competer or Completer?' In my next ramble I intend to try and make sense of that phrase and explain where I sit on the 'compete or complete' scale. Or I might write about something completely different - who knows?
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