It feels a bit like cheating, but in the interests of full disclosure, I’m writing this before the weekend. On Saturday, I’m off to Japan – for a holiday and to do the Wings for Life World Run. That being so, I’m tempted to invent a fantasy weekend of running: 5k PB at parkrun on Saturday, 10km PB on Sunday, recovery run Sunday evening sound good? Oh, OK then, I’ll be squeezing in a quick track session on Saturday morning before sitting on a plane for 12 hours and trying not to go out of my mind with boredom.
Instead, then, a brief explainer of the Wings for Life run, which doesn’t seem very well known, but which I cannot recommend highly enough. The basic principle is that everyone starts at the same time at the locations around the world, regardless of time zone. A catcher car starts half an hour later, and very gradually speeds up. You are “out” when the car passes you. The result is that, unlike in most races, the fastest people run the longest. When you are “caught” you head back to HQ to watch the action unfold on a big screen. It’s unlike any other race I’ve done, and the fact that the Japanese edition takes place in the dark in, for me, totally unfamiliar terrain, should make it even more surreal than my experience last year. Full report to follow next Monday.
But how was your weekend of running? As always, share your tips, PB glory, injury woes and general running questions below the line. I’m afraid I’ll be a bit hit and miss there myself, but I’ll try to drop in when I can. (And if that makes it sound like I think I am indispensable, I know that’s far from the truth!) So, over to you. Take it away, folks ...
