Keep on running

So it’s the London Marathon today. It makes me feel tired just thinking about it. Running 26 miles is not my idea of fun. I know someone who ran it last year in about two and a half hours, which is quite some feat.

Let’s face it, I am not very in to sport. I quite like walking and did walk the West Highland Way last year which is 95 miles and included one day of 21 miles. I also walk up the escalators at tube stations but that’s about it really. But neither is likely to qualify me for Olympic stardom.

When I was at school I was decidedly unfit so sport wasn’t really my thing. But I did play hockey for the school. I was the goalkeeper which was always an interesting experience. There was one time when I was wearing different kickers to normal (they’re the things the goalie wears over their boots so they can kick the ball) and couldn’t get my boots to grip on the ground. We were just about to practice penalties i.e. the whole team in turn practicing flicking a ball at me, and I slipped over backwards and briefly knocked myself out by striking my head on the back of the goal. Let me tell you it hurt. That was about the pinnacle of my hockey playing career.

The whole running thing never was, and never will be, my thing. I generally have a rule that I don’t even run for trains. There will always be another one. Although I can actually do a pretty good sprint if I need to. So I will look at the marathon today from the comfort of my own sofa, not wishing that I had decided to dress up as a giant rabbit to struggle through 26 miles of hell. Those who can - run. Those who can’t - sit on the sofa and eat cakes. Sounds fair to me.