There are now less than twelve hours to go until the fiftieth anniversary of the moment I was born, so this morning’s run was the final one of my forties. Not that it felt particularly momentous.
I ran the same circuit that I’ve done one the last couple of Sunday runs. The weather was fine, if a touch on the humid side and the going was dry with only occasional muddy patches. It was a slower run, like last week and although it got easier as I progressed, I didn’t feel that I had loads of energy to bounce along.
I stopped to chat to Mrs Lew for a few minutes en route and eventually managed to persuade Dylan, her growly-barking dog, that I posed no threat.
Then it was through the woods and back to base, where I even managed a half-hearted sprint to finish.
In spite of the mid-run conversation I still managed to get round in 61 minutes, an average of about 5.7 mph.
However, I was reflecting that this time ten years ago, training for my first marathon, I used to run from my Earls Court pad to my office in London Bridge in one hour. It was 7 miles along the river, which was admittedly flat, but I did run with a backpack!
According to a study cited in Richard Askwith’s excellent book Running Free, the cumulative probability of a given male runner still being a runner in ten years’ time is 71% (56% for women)… at least I’m still in the running category!
I took something else from Richard’s book this morning: where I normally douse my legs with cold water after a hard run, today I took an entirely cold shower… Bracing indeed!
So, farewell to my forties… tomorrow I will be older than ever before!