With exactly a week to go until the half-marathon I set out on my last long run (I say last, but I've only really done one other long one this time). I was going to try for about 11 miles, heading down to Chiswick along the river, then back up to Barnes and then home again. My wife came with me for the first hour, though headed home as we got to Hammersmith Bridge and I pushed onwards. I felt pretty good for the first eight miles, but then my legs became a bit heavy and as I hit the 10 mile mark just outside Pret a Manger in Hammersmith I decided to leave it there and have a coffee and a Godfrey (it's a gingerbread man). But I really just needed a sit-down. It had taken me just under two hours to get this far. My Half Marathon personal best is about 1hour 53, but that happened 10 years ago. I don't think I am going to break any records, but hopefully I can make it round the course. I don't think I could have managed three more miles today, but the other runners and the crowd should lift me. And having run 10 miles this week the theory is that I will be able to do more next time. Apart from the pain and a bit of chafing I enjoyed the run today. I must try and keep it up after the race. But this is the longest I have run since I did my last half-marathon two years ago, so maybe I won't do it unless I have something to aim for (and even then only at the last minute). If you haven't sponsored me yet, then please consider donating a pound here. It can be more than a pound, but if you all gave me a pound I would hit my target. So don't feel shy about giving a pound. A pound would be lovely.
I have so far escaped any serious kind of injury, despite a slightly achey back and a mildly dodgy ankle and even though I had stretched as I stood up from the table after my snack I felt a twinge in my groin (and not the good type) and thought I might have survived ten miles of pounding on the road to wreck everything by getting up our of a chair. I sat down again in the hope that that could reverse the damage and then stood up tentatively, still experiencing some groinal pain. I don't mind about my back and my ankle as I can live without them, but I don't want to wreck my groin. That's my favourite bit.
Luckily it was just stiffness (and not the good type) and I walked it off (the pain, not my groin) and all was well.
I went to the supermarket to buy some fruit (and maybe a muffin) and when I paid my debit card I accidentally pressed the hash key instead of the enter key. I wasn't concerned about this, but just checked with the guy on the till which button I should press to go back one space. He said, "Don't worry, I sometimes do that as well." But I wasn't worried. Or at least I hadn't been until he told me not to worry. Did I think I was worried that I'd made a slight slip of the finger? Should I be worried? Is that the first step on the road to dementia? Was he actually thinking, "Man, you have a lot ot worry about mate if you can't even use a debit card keypad." I think he was trying to be nice, but sometimes it's hard to be sure.
Then back home to work on the podcast and the tour version of WAGTD! I am slightly concerned about how unfamiliar the stand up show is feeling. I listened through to the first fifteen minutes and though I remembered chunks, the order was a bit of a mystery and I am not sure how much of it will come back to me automatically. And I also need to work out where to put the break and try to add some extra bits. If the guy from the supermarket had been there he would probably have tried to reassure me and said, "Don't worry, I often forget 60 minute monologues that I've done every day for a month if I haven't done them for a month." And he wouldn't have reassured me. He'd have made me worry that there was something wrong with my brain.
I am really looking forward to getting back in the RHLSTPs tomorrow. I listened back the the RHEFP I did with Shappi two years ago as I ran. I didn't really remember much about it. She's a very funny and open person and midway through the Fringe I was being quite indiscrete and naughty, but it made me laugh enough for my wife to tell me I looked crazy. But not as crazy as I'd have looked if people knew I was laughing (at least partially) at myself. Rufus Hound is not a man who is too concerned about the consequences of what he says either, so it should be an entertaining night. For this series, to give the gofasterstripe guys time to edit the video without having to stay up for three days we will be releasing the first video and audio in the Monday after the recording and then subsequently one podcast a week. So the podcast with Shappi will be out on the 7th October, the one with Rufus on the 14th and so on. It means you'll have to wait a bit to hear them, but that the podcast experience will last for a couple of months. Of course you can come down to see them live and then you don't have to wait at all!
