The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

Sorry that I haven't posted anything for the last week and a half or so, but I had a bit of a downer weekend the weekend before last. On the Saturday I picked up Alan Sillitoe's The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, which was all very good and prompted me to listen to lots of Iron Maiden, which I was very happy with. Then on Sunday I went for a run around Moulsecomb Wild Park, and actually a bit further than I had been going which was great until about halfway round when my knee started to seize up and I ended up walking most of the way back and then couldn't really do anything the rest of the week.

One of the ways that I motivate myself to do things that are difficult or that are excess to my absolute basic requirements of survival is to go so far into them that the only way to get back is to keep on going. This works fine except when you get yourself stranded somewhere because of it. Also, in retrospect, TLotLDR was probably not the best thing to read. It's brilliant, but the ending did not chime well with my injury the next day, at least in terms of keeping me motivated about keeping going and all since I spent the whole time feeling this growing discomfort, slowing down and just thinking that that's the end of it. Especially after my ipod conked out only a little before my knee did. The fact is, with the exception of the awesome and surprisingly faithful Rime of the Ancient Mariner, most Iron Maiden songs based on the classics of literature are not always completely, er... accurate to the story, so I should have guessed that my preconceptions might have been slightly out.

This week has been a lot better. I've sorted out a longer route for the evenings, and it's mostly fine, with more pavement and less grassy hill. However, it does still go up on the hill for a bit (if I want to) and yesterday that may not have been the best idea, what with the heavy mist and all. I was too excited by the fact that I had working music, having borrowed my girlfriend's ipod, and I ended up falling down a rabbit hole. The bad news is that I didn't end up in wonderland. The good news is that I didn't break my leg either. I'm going to be a bit more careful from now on.

To play out this post, I shall leave you with this awesome Japanese Maiden covers band doing Loneliness, seeing as they hardly ever seem to play it live now. Top quality.