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

2 Mile Race #2 - Jamaica High School Loop - April 2023

This one came just 3 days after the 7-hour walk so I was not expecting anything more than a lurch-round. I'd been out for 2 recovery jogs and both had gone pretty well, despite the heavy and tight muscles that are invevitable after a marathon-esque race effort. Amur joked that with it being the day after the Invitational Marathon there might be some easy fruit on offer, but I told him straight that I was not going to be in the top seven with my legs in the shape they were! The main excitement of the morning centred on someone who had neither the walk nor the marathon in his legs and that was Dima from Macedonia who might challenge the ten minute barrier or even the course record.

I was in vest and shorts in the warm sunshine, a big contrast from the near-zero conditions of a week before. I wanted to see as much of Dima's race as I could so in the powerful anticipatory silence following the race prayer I decided to go out as quickly as my legs allowed, so I'd be able to see him race at least the first half lap. My whole body felt heavy, not just the legs, so I found myself breathing hard in the first seconds of the race up to the tight corner and over the rise. Everything felt the way it usually does at the end, even though it was just the beginning. I was level with Prachar and Suswara, probably in around 7th place, which was surprising enough in itself. Even more surprising what the fact that I could just about sustain that pace and edge into sixth as we came through the finish for the first time, accompanied by music from Kamal and Kodanda on the opposite sidewalk.

The overwhelming sensation in my leaden limbs was one of pushing against a heavy, viscous, opposing force as I fought my way breathlessly along the familiar route. When the hill came, up past the nursing home, I actually made up a little ground on Andrea M, the great multi-day runner who was up ahead of me despite having run a marathon the day before, straight off the plane from Italy. I kept the effort up through the whole first lap, with one of my half miles flashing up in a time of 3.15 on my watch as I came past the Divine Noise at the finish line again. On lap 2 it remained hard and heavy, Andrea holding firm ahead of me and lengthening the gap, while someone else (I didn't look round) began to breathe down my neck. That combination encouraged me to keep pushing, keep striving, until the line. Andrea was well out of reach but at least the Mongolian guy (sorry man, I don't know your name) who was just behind me wasn't able to overtake.

So, I was in the fruit after all, and went home with another hard-won banana. My final time was 12:57, and Dima didn't break the course record but he did break the 10 minute barrier with a hot time of 9.59.

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