ready teddy

with just 4 more days left until the Royal Parks half-marathon, here's a sampling of some thoughts going through my mind

- 10am start on a Sunday??? Shouldn't this nullify the race on grounds of unconstitutionality? Or at least flagrant abuse of human rights or something. Although not drinking on the night before (or the whole week for that matter) will for once provide me with a good reason not to go out and go to bed early on a Saturday night.

- traditional "energy" music, like techno or metal, is overrated. Recently I've discovered the virtues of listening to classical music during my runs (try hearing Ravel's Bolero and not feel like you could take on the entire Russian army by the end. Or at least run up that hill 30 secs faster) and I love it. Running has actually become a cool -but tiring- excuse to listen to music you like while looking at the scenery. For instance here's the playlist I had during my last outing:
Lil Wayne - I'm Me
Kings of Leon - Use Somebody
Bon Iver - Lump Sum (live)
Blink 182 - Stockholm Syndrome
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture
Air Traffic - No More Running Away
Explosions In The Sky - Welcome, Ghosts
Eluvium - New Animals From The Air

- Having never run more than 8 miles in a row, I have literally no clue how I will cope with the extra 5 I'll have to do on Sunday. Will I crumple to the ground like the world financial markets during the 9th mile? Will my pace be the same throughout and enable me to finish under my initial goal of 1h45? Part of the motivation to show up on race day is to actually find out the answer to these queries.

- How the heck are they going to shove 12,500 people through this course? I might have to resort to my old friends thunder and lightning (aka my elbows) to get out of that mess. Or maybe run faster, but that just sounds too tiring right now.

- Not having prepared so much during the past two months due to a three week vacation, then complete insanity at work during 3 more, my energy level has felt noticeable lower during the couple of runs I did since. To try to ward off any such weakness on Sunday, I've tried this sports-drink-in-a-jellybean product called Sports Beans, and I have to say it works pretty well. And it's actually kind of savory, which is more than you can say when it comes to its liquid brethren. Speaking of energy levels, here's the sad evolution of the adrenaline boosters I used on a particularly busy day at work last week:

first we have the classic red bull + diet coke mix, which is one of the many fascinating things I learned to do during an investment banking internship. It goes without saying that the diet coke completely negates the calories from the red bull (as if you were even going to ask)



then to step things up a notch, one of my personal inventions, and a matter of great personal pride: a green bull. Yes, you have guessed correctly, that is a green tea mixed with some red bull. Cheaper than cocaine, with double the heart palpitations. It's stroke-tastic!


and then a few hours later, because there really is nothing you can do to top the green bull, a big ol' glass of red wine. And maybe another (or four) after, I'm sort of hazy on the details.

I did feel awesome afterward, so I'm still undecided whether to stay the course of teetotalism before this godforsaken race, or to revert to the above-described plan. But hey, at least I've got my running playlist sorted.