10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Pfizer 6 Mile

1. Are You Not Injured?

I think running is the only sport where you can be injured and still compete. My knee is still not better but it is in that phase where it gets better everyday no matter what stupidity I do to it. It’s like when you have a headcold, it doesn’t just go away all of a sudden, it just gradually disappears until you wake up one morning and you wonder what am I going to do with all those tablets now.

2. Museum

I think I caught a headcold in the Picasso museum in Málaga. As a runner I have a finely tuned ear for diseased people, I can hear a headcold a mile off. When I was watching the film in the museum in Málaga about Picasso’s photographer there was a particularly diseased person sitting near me, I could hear them before I could see them. I would have left but the film was very good so I stayed. Now I regret it.

3. 6 Mile

I think 6 miles is a strange distance. It’s not quite 10k and it’s not 5 miles. It’s like a Spanish distance for a road race. I like it. I think I ran a PB.

4. Good Pharma

I think we should be thankful for pharmaceutical companies. They are great. Pfizer, Gilead, Eli Lily all great. I’d work for any of them. They make excellent drugs which make people better when they are very sick. They also pay me money which allows me to go to Spain.

5. 8pm

I think 8pm is a wonderful time for a race. I hate running in the morning. The only problem with an 8pm race is that the pre race coffee clearance routine can interfere badly with sleep. It’s going to be a long night.

6. Alan O’Shea

I was hoping that no one would show up for the race tonight and that I could win like I did in Austria. I was very disappointed to see Alan O’Shea. He must think I don’t like him because I probably always look disappointed when I see him.

7. Start

I wasn’t sure about the start. I didn’t want to do my usual nonsense because my knee was a bit sore for the first step. I still went off just behind Alan. Then I sat in a group behind Alan with Andrew, Colin and Darren for about a mile. Then I got dropped. These races have a familiar pattern, someday I’ll get bored of them.

8. Joe.ie

I ran most of the race with Joe. Joe is great to run with because he is virtually the same size as me and he doesn’t make annoying noises. This means that I can match his stride and run with him without getting angry. I could run with Joe all day. Joe beat me badly in the sprint.

9. 14 or 6

I think I have the answer to the question “What effect do shots have on running?”. The answer appears to be 14 seconds per mile or 6 places.

10. The seaweed is not always greener in someone else’s lake.

I think it’s terrible that I got older on Tuesday. It is reassuring and terrible that most of the people who beat me are older than me. I wish I could pause at this age. This is an acceptable age. I have all of my hair in the right colour. I don’t want to have to run in the old man category. It shouldn’t happen. It wouldn’t look as good on Instagram. Good Pharma should invent a drug for it.