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Coming To Life
By Andy Blackford on 04/09/2003 16:02:35
Marathon preparation with a twist: quit your job, catch a cold and drop your running buddy into a pit of despair
Life, I have concluded, is more like a fartlek session than a marathon. It jogs along for years at a steady pace then it passes the second lamppost after the church and vroom! its head goes down and suddenly its thundering along at a five
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The Loneliness Of The Long-Suffering Runner
By Andy Blackford on 05/09/2003 11:16:48
Sometimes life can seem like one big Marathon des Sables
over 100 miles in one go appals me. I ran 50 miles last year in the Alps and had to be jolted out of a near-death experience with a shot of adrenaline. The Marathon des Sables might have been longer than the Jordan thing, but at least they made you
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I Want To Be Part Of It...
By Andy Blackford on 04/09/2003 15:09:04
Our hero almost becomes reconciled to the charms of New York, New York
.And yet the intense feeling of relief that overwhelmed me on that occasion was nothing compared to the all-suffusing ecstasy I experienced as I tottered off Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan at Mile 16 of the New York City Marathon.It was the contrast, I
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New York Movie Madness
By Andy Blackford on 04/09/2003 15:00:24
Months of mental preparation can be destroyed by the wrong inflight movie
Given that I dislike New York and loathe marathons, I enjoyed the New York City Marathon immensely.It started well – I managed to avoid getting peed on from the upper deck of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. I’ve always maintained that during
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Charity Fatigue Syndrome
By Andy Blackford on 09/09/2003 10:30:17
Charity may start in the home, but these days it always seems to end up at a race of some sort
In the last 20 years, running has become inextricably entangled with fund-raising.Correct me if I’m wrong, but until the first London Marathon we ran only for ourselves. When we turned up in the rain to plod round the Cabbage Patch 10, the last
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Diet Another Day
By Andy Blackford on 08/09/2004 12:56:54
A disappearing act... life without pasta, bread and beer
like simple carbohydrates for turning you into a grotesque parody of the human form, somewhere between a waterbed and an elephant seal.So, when it became clear that I wasn’t going to be able to wriggle out of Rory Coleman’s awful Marathon Of Britain, I
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Fastness Is All In The Mind
By Andy Blackford on 04/09/2003 17:00:55
Running is a mental thing. But running 78K over Swiss mountains is a mental mental thing
. However, my recent promotion to Demi-God has awakened an interest in the psychological aspects of our sport.For instance, why do I feel just as shagged out after a three-mile race along the Thames towpath as I do after a Mid-Wales mountain marathon
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Diet Hard
By Andy Blackford on 04/09/2003 15:29:06
Abstinence. Detoxification. Self-denial. Makes you sick, doesn't it?
ascetic I secretly aspire to be.Second, Id love to run a sub-3:00 marathon before I drop. And I feel Id stand a better chance if I didnt have to drag my liver behind me in a dog cart.Lastly, Im interested in what makes us happy. What is happiness
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A Bi-Psyche Made For Two
By Andy Blackford on 04/09/2003 17:20:05
Your Official Me Observer can provide you with a whole new angle on doing splits
marathon the OMO starts interfering at the first sign of discomfort. Oi! he says. Have you seen yourself? You look knackered, mate. Bloody terrible! And youve still got seven-ninths of the race to run. Ive just worked it out.The effect is immediate
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Paradise Lost
By Andy Blackford on 05/09/2003 11:10:41
It's expected that most honeymooners will get into a few strange positions, but being bent backwards over a rubber ball takes the tradition to a whole new level
, and my field of vision is restricted to a 15° arc on either side of my nose.Until I wrecked my suspension during last year’s Swiss Alpine Sad Old Nutters’ 78K Marathon, my only serious running injury had been incurred while stretching. But now I was a
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