Raspberry Beret...
So where to begin, if you are not mechanically inclined I
will let you know that rope is made for pulling, it is mighty hard to push
something with a piece of rope. Remember this, it will help you later. Also if
you have never let your dog chew on a golf ball or never fooled around in high
school shop class and tried to cut a golf ball in half, you need to know that
inside a golf ball is a big mess of elastic bands all twisted up. You need to understand this.
So I raced again last night. A little 3000 down in
London! I am having a lot of fun doing
this track thing this summer. I was a
bit tired from all the racing of the past few weeks with that 10k and followed
closely by that 5k-1500 double up at the 401 series. So we had a couple good weeks of mileage and
workouts in again and this 3k seemed to fit.
So here we are, in London on a next to perfect evening, it’s a small
field and there is a pack of guys going for sub 8.15 pace up front. I know I want nothing to do with that
pace. So things go out fast, 64 seconds
or so through 400, and so here I am, off the back of this lead pack trying to
find my pace not going at their pace but not letting them drop me as there does
not seem to be anyone else around me. Well, trying to push solo off the back of
a pack, whilst not entirely losing touch with the pack but not going out too
fast is about as easy as pushing a truck with a piece of rope. It’s not very
easy. The first lap was fast and then I
sort of let the lead group go, then I decided that I needed to try to hang off
the back of them a bit more and started to push on, in the middle section it go
a bit tough as it always seems to do in these track races and then there was
only 1km to go and I felt good and started to move pretty well again. 8.41 was a big 7 year pb. Henderson ran like
a bawse up front hitting his world jr. Standard.
So now on to the next one, actually jumping on a plane and heading
to England on Wednesday night. Going to
visit my Grandpa and family over there all while taking in a half
marathon. And this is where you all are
going “what the deuce?> I thought you were ripping up the track this summer
John” Well this is true. But there is a bit of a story behind this
half marathon. It takes place in the Village
of Freckleton, and it is the Oldest half marathon in England at 49 years. Also
my grandfather who also bears the great name-John Mason was one of the original
organizers of this race. Needless to say
he wants me to win the damn thing. So I
went last year and gave it my best but had some stomach issues and ended up
second by 24seconds. When planning my summer season I told DST that i
would really like to get into this again and he said it would fit into the
schedule it just would not be any peak race with the main focus of drilling
down my track times. So yeah with all
this fast track stuff I am excited to get over the England and roll through a
half. Its a flat course and I am fairly
confident in my base so I would like to see a fast time aswell.
#believinthebeard.
Once back from England I will be hitting up the track again
for a couple fast races before we wrap up the summer season.
So here this blog is going to take a bit of a hard left from
my usual, lowbrow, ball joke humour and get a bit more deep, and believe me
this is as deep as I get. Some might say
I am like an onion, with many layers that could make you cry, but I am more like a golf ball, I have a hard
rough exterior, take a good beating and come back for more, and inside I am
just a big twisted mess of elastic bands that makes no sense. So....
First watch this video:
Now if you have watched this video and you do not want to go
out for a two hour run, or don’t not want to try running for the first time,
you better check your pulse. I have
watched this video many many times and it really speaks to me. I am not of the real religious type, I don’t understand
religions. Religions are the reason for
all the war and peace in the world.
Religion brings people peace and makes people want to fight for what
they believe. Anyway what I do understand is running. I love running, running for hours, running in
the snow, in the rain. A day running is better than a day not running in my
books. Running is good for the soul, it
picks you up when youre feeling down, it clears the mind and helps me
think. The roads and trails are my
sanctuary. A long solid effort, laboured
breathing, my sermon. I would give up
all goals of fast times, race wins, national-world level competition if you
told me I would be able to float along a rolling tree lined trail everyday from
now until I die. But nothing is
certain and nothing can be set in stone, so I’ll live for what I have right
now, and right now I want to go fast.
Oh yeah so about the title Raspberry Beret. The last three
times I have raced as I drive to the race that song has come on the radio. I don’t
know I guess it’s lucky. One, Two,
One Two three, Huh
For your viewing pleasure.--à
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xATUw_ZVTzQ
So yeah I will check back in After England. Behave yourselves
Believe In the Beard!
John
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