This entry refers to Wednesday, 16th April.
It was quite a day on Wednesday. Outside, it felt like mid-winter - heavily overcast, windy, bitingly cold, grey, miserable, inclement, unfriendly, get the message? Inside, there were decisions that needed to be made - should I buy the green rubbish bin liners or the red ones? There were habits that needed to be changed:
Bodies had to be fetched, and then, most importantly, after writing endless messages to the MdS forum on the Internet, there were plans to be made about running. I hadn't had a break from death for nigh over two and a half weeks, and decided one was called for, so I opted for an afternoon off, and set out on a good run, despite the pitiless climes which swathed us in their gloom and despair.
I began with the normal preparations upstairs in the apartment. First of all, there was the gathering of the equipment, not a simple matter at the best of times. All my running equipment is stored in my favourite room of the house - the ironing room. At least, there, it's not in dread of its life, because that's my domain, I shudder to admit. I had decided, that I would wear my rucksack, bought from the Darbaroud website (official site of the Marathon des Sables), once again. I had worn it on the Sunday run, and it did feel comfortable. This time, however, I decided I would wear the front pouch attachment, and set about attaching it - what a performance, and it will teach me right for undoing the whole thing without carefully noting how it all went together in the first place. I filled up the four water bottles with diluted Gatorade, added weight to the pack itself, mounted it (there is no other word to describe how one puts this monster on), and felt ready to go. Ah, what about stretching? Oh dear, the whole lot had to come off again, there was a lot of whingeing, and I did my stretching exercises. I've been quite diligent at these lately, and can now touch the floor in front of my feet, with legs straightened. It's a good feeling at my age!!!! Stretching complete, I popped downstairs to the business to bid my farewell to the powers-that-be, suffered the barrage of verbal abuse, and set off, clicking all the buttons of my various gadgets as I emerged from the door.
It was almost a deep freeze as I ran my first few moments. Admittedly, I did have on my tiniest of running shorts (Asics), which Kurt refers to as disgustingly erotic, and a thinnish Nike long-sleeved running shirt. The temperature was 6°C, as I slowly warmed up next to the Plessur River which flows in front of our house, but the wind chill factor was certainly around 2°C. My favourite music blaring in my ears from my beloved iPod, I headed down towards the Rhein (Rhine), feeling happy and confident. My Garmin 305 recorded every step I took, receiving signals from some arcane satellite system high up above me, with the vultures.
I did receive some strange looks from some very strange people as I ran along, but, I told myself, they're all ignorant, and will never know what it's like to deprave oneself by running through the desert for seven days. The Rhein reached, I decided not to run on it, as I am usually wont to do, but alongside it, and headed towards the village of Felsberg, through the military area, where a lot of shooting was going on. I had to do a lot of dodging of bullets and missiles, but my fictitious training in the Légion Étrangère stood me in good stead.
Through the village of Felsberg I ran, feeling good and happy, enjoying my music, sipping regularly from my Gatorade, and blowing my nose every 200 metres or so. I suffer from hayfever, and, whilst this year it has not been too bad, the pollen has had a marked effect on my throat, and also affects my nose when I run. I must lose litres of fluid through my nasal orifices when I run. It's most annoying, and I'm not one of those people, who can just expel nasal fluids into the air, like some runners do. I need a tissue, so run with the pouch filled with them. This does, however, cause an annoyance to my gait as I trundle along. Not only that, but years of cortisone nasal sprays have left my nasal membranes very thin, and I bleed a lot from the nose, which adds insult to injury. Anyway......
Dripping blood and nose juices all along the trail, I continued along the Rhein towards the next village of Tamins, which is quite a lot higher than the Rhein valley. In fact, it involves a run up a steep hill, which also kills me on the mountain bike. Not one to complain (oh, yeah?), I ran up the hill, and was amazed that I reached the top without any swearing or cursing. My gym has certainly helped; I must also give due to my red wine consumption, because I have been told, that red wine is good for one, and I must, consequently, be in excellent health!!!!
Tamins is a beautiful village, and I enjoyed running through it, particularly as it was the beginning of a long descent to the village of Reichenau, nestled right next to the Rhein. Thundering down, I past a little, old lady, striding uphill. As I past her, I felt her gaze burning my disgustingly erotic shorts, and could quite well hear her tut-tutting as I hurtled past. Anyone would think some people had never seen legs before!!!!!
Up to the Reichenau railway station on the other side of the Rhein, and then the direction was northwards, when the full blast of the, hitherto unnoticed, north wind was felt. I had been a little cold, but not the sort of nutt-freezing cold that the north wind, when it doth blow, can bring. Whew, I felt it then. It almost deep-froze me, it was that cold. And it was strong. I had another 13 km to run, and I was freezing - oh, boy, what a lot of fun it was going to be. My nasal discharges increased to every 100 metres, but I headed onwards and onwards, knowing, that I would eventually be in the warmth again.
Domat/Ems came and went, and the wind continued unabatedly. Then I remembered a small bridge under the Autobahn which led to a forest path back to Chur. At least, in the forest, the force of the wind would be minimised, so I headed for that. There was a sense of relief in the forest, for sure, but my body was that cold, that I could not micturate (pee) against a passing sheep when I needed to (no, the prostate is in perfect working order, thank you).
On and on I went, my nose becoming certainly bright red, my body as cold as ice, but my level of determination as high as when I started - and, I firmly believe, that this is what is required to complete the Marathon des Sables!!!!! My legs felt good all the time; my chest and nose were the problem, but I thundered through, and overcame the hindrance that might have caused otherwise.
Finally I reached the outskirts of Chur. I had another three or four kilometres to run, and I was starting to tire because my chest and nose were giving me hell. My head was starting to hurt, too, but I put that down to the stress my respiratory system was causing me.
I eventually arrived at the door to our house, with the song Major Tom by the German Singer, Peter Schilling, blasting my brain - one of my favourite songs ever, and a perfect song by which to run.
Equipment shut-down, and breath in the warm air of home!!!!!!! Gosh, it was wonderful. The run, itself, was amazingly good - it was just the weather, and my respiratory system, that caused a few problems. Nonetheless, spring will one day spring, and I will be able to breathe better and enjoy longer and faster runs, every step being towards the MdS!!!!!
The gammy leg? No problem at all. Even today, I have no problems whatsoever. I had planned a 10-km run this evening, but the death business saw to it, that I was exhausted by the day's end. Consequently, it was a long, hot shower and some good red wine for me. Tomorrow, the weather is forecast to be warmer, so I shall do my 10-km rum, and then, with 20°C predicted for Sunday, I'll get in a 30-km one.
I love running more than I could ever have previously imagined. My temporary lay-off, due to the injury, is over, and I am now back into my passion in a big way. All roads lead, now, to the 2009 MdS.
Here endeth the lesson.
No comments:
Post a Comment