Training for the Bonfire Burn

I been a runner for most of my life but I can’t say I’ve really enjoyed it. I suffered the curse of compulsory cross-country at school and then have run as a part of reasonably regular fitness regime in order to balance the excesses of food and drink that my travelling jobs have enabled me to enjoy.

There was an interlude when I lived in Indonesia when I ran with the Jakarta Hash House Harriers. That was good fun as we ran for an hour or so across country, through padi fields and along town and village streets before enjoyed gallons of Bintang shandy.

But generally although I’ve been a sportsman (soccer and rugby) and now I am an avid gym user (now I use the Barn in Girton, click here) and I haven’t really enjoyed running. However I can remember some good runs: the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Hyde Park in London, the sea front in Nice, the National Mall in Washington and the Rocky run in Philadelphia, and around the Peak in Hong Kong.

Until recently that is; probably a year or so ago it changed. And since then I’ve run frequently despite too many pulled muscles, sprained ankles and bouts of tendonitis. Early this year I managed to stay injury free for long enough to run in the Histon & Impington fun run, that was just 5k, and then I foolishly registered for the Bonfire Burn (click here; there’s still time to register). That’s a 10k run in the village in the first week of November and I started my formal build up to it this week.

Actually since I’m reasonably fit and I have been running through the summer the 8 week training plan that I’ve got is pretty soft and I was only due to run about 3k today. I cheated and ran 7.5 (click here for the route; it’s a nice varied run across to Girton and around Histon; technically I did not stray into Impington although I did run along the border).

So one week down and seven to go. I’m pretty confident that, injuries permitting, I can do the distance although the route itself is rather boring. My only concerns are the weather (last year there was driving rain on the day) and coming in in less than an hour.