I'm a little bit nervous. Not at all sure about my heel, but I have this date tomorrow I'm finding hard to turn my back on. The National Cross Country Championships. You can sort of see the appeal, looking at this photo from 2011. It looks like a low key friendly affair, don't you think? Anyway, I'm due on the bus at 8.00am heading for London and Parliament Hill. 12k of running around on offer, but I'm still not sure if I'll run. I've been reading a lot about injury recovery lately. The aim has been to see the signs before it's too late. Avoidance is better than cure. 'Listen to your body' is indeed the message of the moment. Pete says he'd rather listen to his iPod. I was always a day dreamer. 'Lacks concentration' it said on my school report. 'You never listen', another defining accolade. Listening is a life skill.
I want to sample the 'carnage' that is the Nationals. So this is why I'm nervous. My ankle still has a kind of dull ache. It's telling me something. On the one hand, it could just be saying 'do it Rich, but be careful'. Maybe just a couple of laps. On the other it's probably saying 'don't be an idiot, you Dick'. I want to do this race. I can hear something, I'm trying to listen. But I'm getting mixed messages. Nothing ambiguous about this headline on the cover of RW, though! Happy Days.
