I left the house just after the headlines about the collapse of Lehman Brothers on the evening news. Within minutes of starting, the story seemed so far away.
I still struggle with the beginning of each run. The first mile or so always feels like impossibly hard work and I wonder whether I can continue or not. Then the rythmn appears and I can keep going.
I reckon that there is a base level of fitness that people start to acquire when they want to get fit. Above that, there is a really high degree of almost superhuman fitness that is a mixture of genetics and way above average commitment (remember the morning at Bath University pool where I spotted the size 14 green flip flops that had been left by the side of the pool by someone who'd been training since 6am).
And in between those two points, it's all down to the mind.
