Born to Run

Wednesday: 11 km

Thursday: 11 km

Monday: 11 km

About two months ago a friend lend me a fascinating book: "Born To run" by Christopher McDougall. The book is as inspiring as it is thought provoking. In summary, "Born To Run" is about distance running and concludes that mankind was build to run. Like a mythbuster in book form it completely disproves the myth that running is bad for feet, shins, knees and legs and should only be done in reasonable measures. It labels all that Nike, Adidas and Asics etc have been telling us the last 40 years as nothing but marketing bullshit. Are you one of those persons who can no longer go for a run because your shins, feet, knees or back is in extreme pain after few kilometers? Then maybe you should read this book....

When I ran my first marathon 3 years ago I had an incredible surge of what I can only describe as the purest, most intense feeling of happiness I have ever experienced. It started around the 30 kilometer mark and continued until I went to bed. Since then I have noticed that for me, running is a 100% reliable cure for stress, frustration and unhappiness. Go for a run and you're guaranteed to come back happy. My wife feels exactly the same way, as does most of the other running addicts that I know and have discussed it with. Why is that? Why does running, which is such a tiring thing to do, make most people so bloody happy, make them feel so good? I don't know. Surely science will tell us that endorphins, hormones, chemicals and the like are released during prolonged bouts of exercise... Whatever the biological, physiological or psychological reasons are, the fact remains that running makes people happy and makes people feel good. And because of this, it seems to me that Christopher McDougall is right: We were build and born to run. If we weren't then surely we wouldn't feel so good when we do it!

Born To Run! This is a fantastic, and very inspiring fact to have in the back of your mind when you are out on a run, tired and wondering why the hell you shouldn't just give up and go home. There's no arguing with this fact. We run because this is what we were build to do. We run, because this is what we need, to keep us happy and healthy.

If you're a runner, then read this book. If you're not a runner, then read it anyway.

Marathon Madsen

Hangovers, garden gnomes and running

Last weeks training:

Monday - Squash

Tuesday - 11km

Wednesday - 6km
Thursday - 11km

Friday - 6.5km

Saturday - none

Sunday - none

When I wrote the last blog I never for one second doubted that I would be able to stick to my plan of running lots of kilometers, minimal alcohol intake and no smoking. But as the week passed my plan slowly started to crumble, and by early Sunday morning when I woke up with hangovers from hell it was reduced to a joke.

"How did it go so wrong?" I ask myself on this dark and rainy Monday afternoon and "Can I fix it?".

My cooking duties at home means that I need to plan ahead an be really organized if I want to run in the evenings before dinner. Serving food later than 7pm in the Madsen mansion means that the kids gets restless and the consequent carnage is to be avoided at all costs. Conclusion: I need to get organized and prepare food before I go for my pre-dinner runs.

The smoking and drinking goes hand in hand. The solution to not smoking is easy: no drinking. And for the drinking part, well, here's what not to do:

- do not organize a to spend the night at the shooting club after the annual 4x4 competition

- do not convince yourself that you'll just have a few beers and then go to bed

- do not drink tequila before dinner

- do not drink tequila after dinner

- do not drink tequila the Zimbabwean way

- do not drink tequila

- and do not, under any circumstance, invite characters like Alex, Alex, Ole and Michael along!

Conclusion: Between now and the Kampala Marathon alcohol intake in the company of any other people than my wife is completely banned.

So there it is. No drinking, no smoking and organized cooking for the next 6 weeks. It's doable.

Hungover Madsen

Now or never

I have just read my most recent blog post. It is 4 months and a week old. Hmmmmm. This blog was supposed to help me stay focused and keep the motivation up. And it did. For a while.... Let's see if not I can get back into the old routine of running and blogging.

I started running again 2 weeks ago. The Kampala Marathon is scheduled for Sunday November 21. So, I have got exactly 6 weeks to get in shape for it. And to make it even more interesting, I'll be climbing the Rwenzori Mountains from November 13-20. HMMMMMMM!! Well, I wanted a challenge. Now I've got one. Honestly, right now I'm not entirely sure how I am going to pull this off. Kampala Marathon is very different from the one in Copenhagen. The temperature, humidity, the hills, the altitude, the traffic, the dust, the pollution, the lack of water/energy drink points are factors that combine to make Kampala Marathon an intimidating run. Right now my only comfort is that I have a couple of times passed the 30 kilometer mark on my tranining runs here. But last time that I did that was 6 months ago and I have not been running the last 4 of those. HMMMMMMMMMMMM! Not sure that thinking any further about is the best thing to do right now.

Right, so the plan is to more or less run every day from now on. 10K minimum. One long rung every week. No running on days where I play squash or raft. Minimal to no intake of alcohol. Letting the hair grow so as to protect the skull from the sun. Absolutely no smoking. No electronic gadgets allowed, except maybe for a watch once in a while.

So, what's so special about the Kampala marathon? Why not just wait postpone and run a different one instead? The Kampala Marathon is important for 2 reasons. First of all, to qualify for the Comrades Marathon, one must complete a regular marathon in a reasonable time no more than 12 months before. The Kampala Marathon is right where I am and it leaves me with 6 months to get ready for the Comrades. Supposedly 6 months is the minimum preparation time for a beginner like me. Secondly, completing the Kampala Marathon is bound to be harder than any of the Copenhagen runs have been. As I am a firm believer in "if it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger" I trust that 42 kilometers in the hills of Kampala is a good way to expand the mental strength. If it doesnt kill me, of course....

Marathon Madsen