With a little over two weeks until I will be running the Berlin Marathon (September 27), I feel in a reflective mood. I’ve got one more ‘big run’ to do next week, having completed 18 miles this week.
Since I started running in February I have run 374 miles during 70 hours and 50 minutes of training.
I am now someone who packs their running shoes when they go away which still surprises me. I’ve run along the High Line in Manhattan, through a disused power station on the Firth of Forth, up steep Welsh hills and along the dusty banks of the Seine in Paris.
But I’ve been lucky enough to spend most of my training hours around Great Bedwyn, along the Kennet and Avon canal, the many bridleways and footpaths that spread out from the village and through the leafy tracks of the Savernake Forest.
I’ve encountered boxing hares, startled deer and inquisitive cows. I’ve fallen over in the mud and slipped on the ice. I’ve been sunburnt, rain lashed and blown backwards by headwinds so strong that I would have turned back if I hadn’t been trying to get home.
On almost every run I’ve been accompanied by my dog who has never once looked tired, fed up or ready to give up. If we go along the canal he has a quick dip every now and then, whatever the weather. He’s chased rabbits and deer, been chased by other dogs and tried to eat a fisherman’s sandwich.
He doesn’t have a GPS device to tell him his distance and splits and elevations but if he did I suspect he would have run at least double the distance I have.
If only he were able to come to Berlin…
