Hello again.
Jack Kerouac's famous novel On the Road, which I read many moons ago, has been back in the public eye recently; a film has been made of it at long last (reviews rather mixed). The book had a massive influence on a whole generation. What was different was that instead of the journey leading somewhere, the somewhere being the objective, the book made the journey itself the destination. As Kerouac's semi-autobiographical character Salvatore Paradise states, "The road is life." I like that; it reminds me of Nike's famous, albeit simplistic, advert: "There is no finish line." In other words it sums up the sport of endurance running. This, together with desperate pleas (well, maybe not desperate but a few 'when are you getting back into it then Wrighty?') from loyal readers for me to resume posting these inane blogs about running, has convinced me to start scribbling again.
So yes, after a brief mid-summer hiatus due various old man's ailments, I'm back 'on the road' and actually quite enjoying it. A regular routine of steady lunchtime runs from work in Fairford during the week - some beautiful trails, lakes and hills to choose from - one of which I usually do with miling legend Derek Gardner, and a couple of longer weekend runs in Cirencester Park or around the local Cotswold lakes (Saturday usually turns into a bit of a tempo but is very much on 'feel'), has brought me some base fitness.
I keep a running log and having always loved statistics - cricket averages in my youth, most of which was spent at The Oval - I often turn to some of the information churned out on my spreadsheets. The absolute key stat for me in recent years has been a rolling 52 week average weekly mileage. It really tells a story relating to fitness, and rewards consistent training over a period of time. Back in 2009 when I was running really decent V50 times, my average peaked at 55mpw over a 12 month period. My injury and health issues are well illustrated by the following:
2008: 36 (Jan) consistently rising to 45 (Dec)
2009: 45 to 55 (Sep) then fell off cliff to 36 (Dec)
2010: 36 to 8 (Dec) steady decline through lack of running
2011: 8 to 16 (Dec) started running again just in the nick of time
2012: 16 to 32 (Oct)
Incidentally, my best 52 week average was 76 in 1981/1982, otherwise translated as 4,000 miles.
A graph of my weight increase (2½ stone) and then decrease (most of it) would reflect the mileage changes listed here and confirms that in my case "the road is life" as without it I can't indulge in that other great passion, namely fine food & wine.
Cheers.
