I’m sitting on my sofa this morning watching this year’s installment of the Virgin London Marathon. I always find it inspiring watching the elite men running. They look like they’re sprinting the whole way but to them 4:40 miling must feel pretty comfortable during the early stages of the race. As I watch there is a group of around 10 and the pace maker has moved to the side to let the race unfold. It’s sick how fast these guys are looking and chances are they’re going to get faster towards the end. With around 10 athletes in the mix it makes for exciting viewing. I was chatting with Steve the other day and he was saying how even in marathons now with 100 to go there can still be a group of 5 fighting for the win; it would be interesting to know how fast they run their last 200/400m. I always wonder how long I think I could hang onto these guys and to be honest I reckon I would’ve dropped off at mile 3 where I think they dropped a 4:28 mile…outrageous!

But moving away from possibilities and speculations and back into reality the truth is I haven’t run all weekend. I’ve had quite a bad sore throat which my mum suspects are my glands coming up but the white spots on my throat suggest it could be tonsillitis. I’ve had tonsillitis before and I can tell you it was a lot more painful than this. I was also completely KO-ed when I last had it and couldn’t move off the sofa and just slept all the time. Whereas this time my body feels fine apart from when I swallow there’s a nasty pain. It also says on the NHS website other symptoms of tonsillitis are fever, temperature, sore neck/ears and a few others of which I have none. My legs, chest, nose and head all feel fine and I could quite easily go for a run now. But in this situation patience is best and rest is the key. If it still hurts tomorrow I’ll go to the doctors and see if I can get my hands on some antibiotics.

I think it’s quite easy to pick illnesses up at this time of year. With exams around the corner and a heavy workload it’s a lot of mental stress. I don’t see how sitting on your bum reading all day can be demanding but history shows it is. I handed my project in last week so all I have to focus on now is revision. Due to the exams me and Steve have decided that I won’t be doing any racing during my examination period (17^th May-3^rd June).  I raced pretty poorly during my exam period last year and mentally it was a downward spiral from there. With the 3^rd year of my studies being quite a big deal I think it’s a sensible move to prioritise that and just train while I’m doing exams.

I’m back in London over Easter and it’s nice being home and spending some quality time with people. It’s nasty having good weather like this but being stuck indoors burying my head in books. But one bonus of being home is that I have my mummy to take care of me while I’m poorly (don’t laugh at me, you all know you want your mums when you’re ill). I also have to make sure I concentrate with all my brothers and sisters around and not let the Xbox and Wii distract me.  

While writing this Mutai absolutely destroyed the field by casually dropping in some 4:30 miles; unbelievable. Hopefully the Brits will be in soon and we’ll see some PB’s out there today. I better get back to some revision.

Cheers,

Goolab xxx