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TRAIN IN RAIN: Ruth Meech

WATCHING Sunday's London Marathon from the safety of my sofa, I got to pondering the psychology of running.

It wasn't the ordinary Joes who caught my attention - although I take my hat off to everyone who ran or walked the course to raise funds for charities dear to their heart - but the proper' athletes at the front, the ones who lope up the course, sprint for the finishing line and still look game for more even then.

Come rain, shine, hail or - as happened this year - gas leak, they run on, eating up the miles with nary a bead of sweat on their top lip. Amazing.

One of them, the breathless commentator informed us, works full time, is a mum and runs marathons as a hobby'. Apparently she only' runs 70 or 80 miles a week.

Ye godfathers, how does she do it? It is all I can do to wrestle the cork out of a bottle of wine after a day at work, never mind pulling on my tracky bottoms and heading for the street.

I will be thinking of her and her only' 70 miles as I stumble through my only one mile' this week, under the eagle eye of trainer Boris.

One mile, maybe just over. That's roughly where we are at present, although I have been informed that my running will have been upped to three miles by the end of this month.

Our usual route is out of Boris's fitness studio in St Thomas Street, along the harbour, down on to the beach by the Pavilion and then along to the old Pier bandstand where we stop for a glug of water. This is approximately a mile.

Then we set off again, running, aiming either for the stone groyne by the Sea Life Centre or the commemoration rock on Preston Beach Wall, before heading back to town. As runs go, it's a pleasant route - until my ears start to drop off in the cold. But this is also where the psychology comes into it.

Apparently, because I am now used to stopping at the Pier Bandstand for a drink, my body will start to show a reluctance to go any further. It's a bit like leading a horse to water, letting her drink and then acting surprised when she digs in her hooves and refuses to go any further.

So we must break the impasse and jog on, keep jogging until I can jog no more. Then, and only then, will the curse of the Pier Bandstand be broken and Race for Life's three-mile goal be more attainable.

For full details of Race for Life visit raceforlife.org - and please note that the Kingston Maurward race is now full.

Rob Boris' Stone can be contacted on 07760 225598 or in his studio above Cobwebs internet café in St Thomas Street, Weymouth. He can be contacted for a free chat regarding Race for Life.

12:44pm Tuesday 15th April 2008

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