"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own"   Sri Chinmoy

Sri Chinmoy Grand Prix "WISDOM" 2 Miler - 24 October 2020 - Horizon 38

For the second week in a row I met up with Suswara for the 2 miler. For now I expect us to race in 2s and 3s, and who knows when a full bunch run will happen again? Right now in October 2020 that seems some months away.

I had a good half hour warmup and we had a chance to chat which was great - a bit of human interaction after another full week of only contacting people outside my household on the phone or by online chat - oh and there were 3 meditation webinars where I got to see co-presenters Alice and Melissa, but the other 50-odd participants remained invisible. Strange times.

We should have been in France this weekend, had the world not been turned upside down by covid, and the 2 miler would doubtless have been measured by Unnatishil with his ancient wheel and run in the dark in some forest on the outskirst of Paris. Instead, we were back in the prosaic surroundings of Horizon 38 Business Park, with a strong southerly wind lowering our expectations of good race times. It was 11 degrees, which I reckon is perfect for running short races, but that wind was going to be taxing.

After a a brief silence, Suswara took his turn to be starter and we launched ourselves westward along the roadway heading towards the old Filton Airfield. I set off at my customary six-minutes-ish pace and this week Suswara was close behind for the first half lap or so before we settled into our own race-paces. I was on 5.45 for the first half lap, then 5.50, then slowing to 5.55 at the half way mark. That first mile took a lot out of me so I expected to keep on slowing - it was another case of forcing myself to hang on. Each time we turned into the stretch heading south the headwind blocked us, then as we turned west it half-blocked us as the buildings channelled the wind towards us again, in defiance of the wind-direction arrows on the weather app. There was a silent section with tailwind when we headed north and on the last lap, where I'd dropped to 6.00 on my average pace, I managed to claw it back to 5.59 with that wind at my back. Then came the struggle to hold on to that pace which I just managed - 11.58 was my final result. Like me Suswara was  only few seconds down on last week, so we were both satisfied.

These 2 milers don't get easier - each week I go out and tell myself I'll run within myself but I always push as hard as I can once I get started. My body is not complaining so far - tiredness and occasionally some stiffness in the right calf or quad are the only negative effects, so recovery does seem to  be working well. I'll keep at it and see if I can clock up 10 events out of the 13 so that my results qualify for the Grand Prix. Right now UK is doing pretty well, in a hot head-to-head with Mongolia.

After these runs once I've got my breath back and cooled down a little it does feel good - a sense of being cleaned out, washed through, simplified. A good feeling to hang on to if you can.....

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