There was an article in Ranelagh Harriers' newsletter last week that should be pasted up on every club noticeboard in the country. I will try to précis it here but look it up under News (newsletter no. 309) on Ranelagh's website for the full version. A regular club runner aged 35 from Leeds was down in London for a few days and went out for an easy four mile run. He collapsed and died during the run. He had no identification on him so the authorities couldn't contact anybody. Given the vast expanses of our wonderful Cirencester Park (4,000 acres?) and beyond to run in, where we enjoy idyllic isolation, can you imagine how bad things could get here? There are identification gadgets that can be attached to running shoes and it is clearly important to tell people where you are going to run. Since my heart scare last summer and continued associated problems, I always try to tell Claudie my running route and I now always fill in the personal details requested on the back of lots of race numbers, something I used to mock when they first appeared.
I have known of a few deaths associated with running over the years; in most cases the informed opinion has been that running actually deferred the ultimate finishing line although try telling that to the families of the handful of people who all died on the same day in the Gt North Run a few years ago. The recognised creator of the jogging boom in America, James Fixx, died whilst out running aged 52, the ultimate irony given his preaching about the healthy nature of such an activity. My very, very good friend from Australia, George Thomas, died aged 41 whilst driving home from a 10k race. He was my mentor whilst he lived in London in the late 70's and drummed into me how to get regular training lodged into my daily lifestyle.
We are now enjoying / enduring a bit of a heatwave. Great you say, a decent summer at last. I agree and like nothing better than getting out for a run with the freedom of just wearing shorts (I know, with a body like mine I should be covering up to protect the population at large, as my darling daughter Natalie told me the other day!). But the heat brings its own problems. In 2003 there was a lot of publicity about how many elderly people died in France in the heatwave that year; a number of younger people perished on an organised long distance walk in Holland as well, yet there was precious little about the effect it had in the UK. I know though because my dad was one such statistic, dying in his sleep after the hottest day of the year. We must respect weather extremes and not think we are indestructible. Take wise precautions; if doing a long run try to go out early and even drop some water off in advance at points around the course.
Two brighter matters on which to finish. I alluded earlier to 78 year old Fred Robson. He was running marathons 10 years before even I was born and he was out in Finland last weekend doing another one despite 30ºC temperatures (careful Fred!). Picture shows him having a massage after the race. He has a wonderful attitude to life and to running. I look forward to buying him a celebratory half pint of Guinness when he next appears at the pub - what a wonderful man.Finally, can't let my reader(s) go without mentioning our esteemed club captain Adrian Williams. He missed club training last Tuesday so that he could post a decent 5km time at a race down near Bristol, a round trip of about 60 miles (I think he was actually just trying to get out of attending the club committee meeting personally), as a barometer on how his Berlin Marathon training is going. Just one problem: he got the wrong date, there was no race!
Enjoy the sunshine.
