Free advice for people considering training for a half marathon: taking two weeks off running less than a month before your race is a SHITTY IDEA. Don’t do it!
This morning was my first Sunday long run in three weeks after a long hiatus due to ankle injury / hideous illness / traveling to Asia, and I knew it was going to be bad. I didn’t sleep well last night because I was anxious about collapsing half way through, which didn’t help.
Despite wanting to turn back after 6km, and sort of wanting to die at 10km, I finished the whole 18km in 2 hours, 4 minutes with an average pace of about 6:40 per kilometer. Kick. Ass.
In massive, breaking news, I may have maybe possibly perhaps decided on a tattoo.
At first I was debating getting little wings on my ankles, as per the Greek messenger God Hermes who wore Talaria – winged sandals made of imperishable gold. This could still be an option, but I’ll have to run a damn lot faster than I am now before I, ahem, earn my wings. I also like to give myself a lot of time to think about body art, because seriously it’s there for life and if I stop running in a few years because something new takes my fancy (as often happens with me – what can I say, I’m fickle) those wings will be an embarrassing reminder that I am no longer fleet of foot.
That said, I think it’s okay to chronicle an event in your life with permanent ink, therefore if/when I complete a marathon, I like the idea of memorializing it with the last words spoken by the legendary Pheidippides before he fell down dead: “Rejoice, we are victorious!” It’s a good sentiment, widely applicable to life generally, and obscure enough that not many people would know what it meant. I could also get it done in the original Greek, although translations into languages I don’t speak make me nervous. I’ve seen this phrase done as “Îενικήκαμεν!”, “χαÏείτε εμείς είναι νικηφοÏο~Ïος”, “Chairete nikomen!” and several other ways. Finding an authoritative translation is virtually impossible. Plus, where would I put it? Armband? Lower back? Sigh. This tattoo thing is complicated.
That’s it for today, sports fans. Sorry that Facebook has dampened my ardor for LJ lately. I’ll get back into the swing of daily blogging again sooner or later.
A Conversation with Bryan Talbot