I’ve always said the only reason I do cross country races is for the cake. Which made Saturday afternoon particularly grim. Pouring with rain, windy, muddy and hilly - and I’ve foresworn cake for the month of November. It was never going to be fun, was it?
Frankly, the less said about that race - and my running generally at the moment - the better. Instead, let us talk mind tricks. Having been doing long runs for a few years now I’ve pretty much exhausted every possible route from my house. I’m now resorting to reversing certain stretches, adding on random park loops and trying to invent games to distract myself from running the same stretch of Thames Embankment for approximately the gazillionth time. Anyone got any good ones, or temporary diversions from running route tedium? I have one - more like a rule, actually - which means I have to overtake anyone running in a JP Morgan Chase corporate challenge T-shirt. Thankfully I’m yet to see one of those 20-miles into a 23 mile run, because that could get seriously painful.
People generally recommend listening to podcasts to distract the mind, but I find that I tune out too much, then tune back in and realise with frustration I’ve got no idea what’s going on, or what they are talking about. So, hit me with your best distracts - but they have to be mind games only.
