November – the month in review

I was thinking that it would be good to give you a nice little monthly review, just in case I forget to post anything during the month. Obviously when I say forget to post, I actually mean run out of anything even remotely interesting to blog about (and yes, I know you could argue I ran out ideas a few articles back).

So anyway, here are a few stats about my running in the past month…

Miles run in the last month = 117
If you’re unsure of how far that is, it’s basically step out of the office at Piccadilly Circus, chuck a left and go all of the way along the M4 until you get to Bristol. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed at myself with that. It’s just a shame I didn’t actually run to Bristol as then I could have taken in a game under the McInnes revolution, but there you go.

Time spent running = 13 hours and 43 minutes
That translates to the time it takes to fly from London to Hong Kong, with an hour of faffing either side. It's fair to say that I’m no aeroplane me, as you travel 6052 miles on that trip, putting my paltry 117 to shame.   

Pre-6am starts in the name of running = 8
I am a loser for this, I know. But early starts are a necesity, hence the blog name. It’s a straight choice between hauling my arse out of bed to go running in the morning versus not seeing my daughter if I wait to do it after work. So there’s only one winner really. 

Night’s out sacrificed = 5
This is slightly subjective but as it’s Awards season at work and I haven’t been to a single one, I think I've sacrificed 5 which is a very noble effort. I can only hope I’m able to say the same in my December review, although I have a feeling it'll be a big, fat zero and my training will be seriously off track.

Some of the things I’ve learnt from my running this month:

• The first rule of running. I will never beat my brother
• Whichever way you look at it, getting up at 6.30 on a Sunday morning is a really stupid thing to do
• If running keeps me off of the late night ‘Drunken Express’, then running is my friend (I will tell you about a comical recent experience in a future post)
• It never ceases to amaze me just how rude some people are
• To nail a PB you have to be both brave / stupid and give it some welly from the off. This is a very dangerous game, as I discovered the last time I did the marathon. I went off too quick, died a slow and very painful death at Canary Wharf, and the next 9 miles were agony. Once bitten, twice shy and all that, which I think is why I was so happy that St Neots didn't blow up in my face.
• It’s impossible to run a race as a training run because your competitive instincts take over – if they didn’t, you wouldn’t be there in the first place. These competitive juices are never far from the surface, and tend to boil over when people annoy you. In football you can kick them, in cricket you can try and smack them for six (and invariably get out), but in running you have to try and beat them which, if they're better than you, can be a bit of a problem. 
• It’s starting to get really cold, which in turn begs the question - at what point are gloves acceptable? (i.e.they’re never acceptable on a football pitch)

And I'm telling you this because...

I'm running the 2012 London Marathon for the Hertfordshire Community Foundation (HCF).

If you feel inclined to sponsor me to help the Hertfordshire Community Foundation continue their great work, you can do so here:  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/BenWood2