10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Stramilano Half Marathon

1. Top Runner

I think that it is always worth chancing your arm when travelling abroad to races. I emailed the organisers before the race to make sure I’d get up the front. Not only did they put me up the front but they gave me number 9 and “top runner” status. I am sure I am not a top runner, very sure.

2. Steve McClaren

I think that the worst time to get interviewed is when you aren’t expecting it. As I was pretty much the only non-Kenyan or Italian on the start line the TV people came over. I had ice cubes in the plastic wrapping from my new socks held on the top of my head as it was roasting. I have no idea what I said to them but I probably couldn’t have looked more insane. I really hope I didn’t speak English in an Italian accent.

3. Cannonball

I think that everyone has a plan for running in the heat until the Italian national anthem is played and the race is started with the firing of a cannon. I had calculated that based on the heat 75 minutes would be really good. Unfortunately I forgot this calculation immediately and went off not too far behind the Kenyans.

4. Giovanna Epis

I think that I was very wrong to think that I could stay with the group that were running with the best Italian woman in the race. There was a dedicated TV camera crew following her so I thought it would be a good steady pace. Unfortunately it only took about 3k for it to be clear that the pace was far too hot for the heat and for me.

5. Justify “Top Runner”

I think that after I was dropped by the group I started to worry that I wouldn’t be able to justify my status as a “top runner”. I pictured an angry Italian Michael Herlihy at the finish line waiting to give out to me for being so useless, ripping the number 9 off my chest, throwing it in the bin and banning me from ever darkening his race with my presence again.

6. Safe Mode

I think that I have a safe mode for the heat. Once I started to get that hot feeling my main goal was to avoid ending up on a drip in the medical tent. The only way to get less hot is to stop or slow down, nothing else works. A guy up ahead seemed to opt for the stopping option, he was stopping every 3km walking then going again. It seemed to work better than my just slow down option as I never caught up to him. I might adopt this strategy in the next hot race.

7. Floodgates

I think that the last 2km were particularly terrible. It is a strange feeling when you get too hot. It seems like you are running as fast as you can but you are actually going very slow. 10 people must have passed me in the last 2k and I could do nothing about it only watch them fly by. I thought I might muster some bit of a sprint but when I rounded the last corner and saw 76 on the clock I didn’t see the point and just ran home free from danger of the medical tent.

8. Another Day

I think that I will have to come back and do this race again if I haven’t been banned by the race organisers. It is such a great course, completely flat, perfectly organised and a great way to see Milan. It’s normally on in March/April so it was unusual for it to be so hot. Even the Italians and Kenyans said it was too hot.

9. Donal like Donadoni

I think that I must have done an excellent first interview as after the race the same TV crew came straight over to interview me again. I pointed out that it was very hot. At the end they asked me my name, “Donal”, Donald?, no “Donal like Donadoni”.

10. Biliud Cubchoge

I think that the Kenyans were very impressed with Billy. I saw the four Kenyans who dominated the race sitting down in front of an old giant door with a golden frame so I sat down beside them for a chat. Rhona wheeled Billy in beside me. I showed the Kenyans Billy’s bib which has Biliud Cubchoge written on it. They thought it was very funny, the only people so far.