Running, Running, and more running

Those of you who follow me on twitter may have noticed over the last day or two, i've got a bit of Enthusiasm up for trying to start doing some running again. This may just sound like the general thing that a lot of people in their late twenties and early thirties do - the whole i'm gonna start getting some exercise again,  but for me it is a lot lot lot bigger thing mentally...

People who know me (or have started to know me since 1999) will be quite shcked by this, but i used to be a nifty little athlete.  The shock comes because i am a chain smoking, drinking, lazy bastard with a pronounced pot belly.  If you'd seen me before 1999 you may have had a little bit of a heart attack.

Starting from the age of 8, i did athletics, only small events at first, like fun runs, but i absolutely and utterly loved doing it,  then, when i started at secondary school, i was incredibly lucky to have a PE teacher, who was also a AAA level 3 coach, who coached at the local athletics Club as well, and he recognised, almost as soon as i started in year 7, that i had a wee bit of a talent for running.  By the end of the first term, i had competed in my first ever competitive championships,  - My counties School Cross Country Championships,  a championships tht had produced 8 prior GB Club champions, and had managed to absolutely wipe the floor,  winning the 3 mile cross country (Year 7 & 8) by quite a margin,  i then went on to the regional championships, where i finished in the top 3,  then the nationals, where i was top ten.

This repeated with the club i joined,  a small market town club, which didn't have a great history, but had incredibly dedicated coaches, and older members who were more than happy for a scrote a few years younger than them to race, and beat on occasions.

Over the years, i competed in further and further athletics championships, Cross Country Championships, Half marathons, and even on 3 occasions, full marathons.  One of my fellow athletes, who i raced against on 12 occasions (beating him on 9 of them) is now, rightly one of the most renowned Long Distance athletes in the world, Mo Farah,  The friendliest man on the planet,  who i still see when i go to the athletics grand prixs as a spectator, and who, always manages to track me down in the crowd, run over, and give me a massive massive hug.  In his rces,, when he has won,  Mo still does something that i believe every athlete should, he goes and talks to every single person who was in the race, and gives them encouragement,  you can see when he's rcing on tv that all of the other atheletes absolutely love him!

This is all well and good,  but it doesn't answer the question of why i no longer run...That can be summed up with a few phrases

   1. Smoking
   2. Drinking
   3. Fucked Knees and Ankles from doing thousands upon thousands of miles of training runs, in badly fitted trainers (bought from the local market) on badly surfaced country roads.  The nearest training track was 35 miles away, and was impossible for me to get to, so i had to train on the roads

My knee wouldn't be as big a problem as it is, except for one thing...I went to a country clubs track & fiekld championship, the day after one of my friends 17th brithdays,  and i turned up incredibly incredibly hungover to try and defend my 3000m Steeplechase title.  If you are not aware of steeplechase,  just be aware that it is the most technical of the long distance events, and exact pacing is required...Now, because i was hungover, i managed to get my pacing slightly out, and when i went for a hurdle on the second lap, instead of my leading leg flying over smoothly, and then bringing my trailing leg through,  my leading leg hit, at the knee, the hurdle...This doesn't sound that bad, but the steeplechase hurdle is a lump of solid wood, which is 15*15cm, and it fucking hurts!

Since that day, my knee has been fucked, and i dropped out of athletics, as the pain, the days after i tried any form of athletics, when my knee seized up again, was just too much to cope with,  so i left all of my exertions behind, to become a sedentiary lazy fucker i am today, while still keeping up the calory intake i had previously!

Most of my muscles have gone flabby as i don't do any exercise at all,  except for (i am reliably informed by my wonderful girlfirend)  my leg muscles, which could still break somebody elses leg if it was trapped in between...

Last night, i made myself a Thursday resolution  (i refuse to do new years resolutions, as they always fail) tht i am going to start running again...I'm not going to do my normal trick, and go straight for a 25 min 5 mile run, i'm actually going to start small, and work my way up, working all of my muscles, and hopefully that will help bring my knee into place...I just need to get over this damn chest infection first...Rest assured, i will not be one of those annoying fuckers who jogs on the pavement in high vis jackets, i will be running, actually setting a pace, and doing countryside runs, not just town pavement ones.  My ultimate aim is to have the fitness levels back to be able to try and compete in the Wasdale Fell Race either next year, or 2013...The wasdale fell is one of the hardest fell races in this country, but the exhileration as you come down of the top is just unbelievable, and i would love to run it again!

If anyblody ahs any tips on hiow i can get my knees and ankles fit for running again, it would be highly appreciated!