Wednesday 4 May 2011

Hibernating in May

It is rare, but some days I don't feel like running. Today is one of them. I tried imagining how wonderful it would be to go for a run in the woods, follow the tough undulating trail, get some strength in my legs and then come home almost shaking from the exertion. When that didn't do it, I tried to remember how it felt last winter, when I couldn't run because of my foot. I even tried threats, that if I don't go out for some hill intervals, my legs will fall off. Nothing. I felt no excitement, no anticipation.

I slept for almost 9 hours, something that is extremely unusual for me. Yet I was very reluctant to get up, let alone go for a morning run. Frost had painted the house roofs white, and after yesterday's freak snow fall, with flakes big and heavy enough to make a crater when they landed, I felt like spending the day hibernating. Sometimes it doesn't matter how much you sleep or how well you eat. Sometimes you just have to take an extra rest day.

Yesterday afternoon I met up with a girl that wanted to sell me her place in Göteborgsvarvet, one of the biggest running events in the world, with almost 60.000 participants running the half-marathon this year. This is an event I've been snubbing for years because of how crowded it is. Besides, I had intended to run Stockholm Marathon a week later, so I never entered the race. Then I got injured and had to drop out of the Marathon. But then my foot got better and last Saturday I ran 31 easy kilometres in training, which planted the seed of doubt in my mind: I probably could have run the Marathon anyway. So this half-marathon might help get my mind off what I won't be doing.

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