Aka Blue Monday or the Happy Mondays?

It’s the last day of August. The most honking of honking running months I have had since Nov 2013 – March 2014. Away and do one August and may your next Jobbie be a hedgehog. I’m not patient. I really try to be but I am not. I can handle being on the sidelines as long as other people aren’t running and enjoying it and telling me all about it. Strava should be X Rated when you are injured. It’s been not too bad having my mind taken off things by the World Athletics Championships but it’s finished now, and my report submitted. So yeah. I’m still sidelined. I have managed a couple of short, slow runs but I’m not quite right yet. It will come, and I know that. I have missed a couple of races and that’s where the gloom comes in. The MAC squad went to Rothesay last week and there were some great performances at the 10k. Cracking PB from Jim White who has stolen the mojo that I lost. Some great runs from Brian McLinden and John Hughes, I would have loved to have been involved in a 10k race with the two of them since I train with them all the time, and they are my inspiration. Yesterday I missed the Paisley 10k. It was a PB course for me last year and you run by St Mirren Park, and over where my Dad was brought up. Knew so many people that were doing it and I was so tempted to even go and jog round but I was sort of wise and didn’t do it. Gave out loads of advice but I wanted to be there. Well done to everyone I know that did it, especially Producer Jim. He is back and I WILL persuade him along to MAC. Anyway, Instead I went out myself and ran a (nearly) 10k. It was promising, foot felt a lot better. Tomorrow I am helping at the time trial again. I said it last month but I am expecting someone pass me in the table THIS month. But here endeth the blue and sad part of the blog. Why? I got a buzz out of the World Athletics Champs. I watched them succeed. But I watched them fail as well. And I took something from that.

Yep, pleasure in failure, sums us St Mirren fans up.

Chris O’Hare hit the nail on the head for me. He gets his own meme and should feel privileged.

He admitted on telly that he ran like a donkey. He isn’t moping, he’s getting back on with it. Mon the wee man! I have said before that one of the things that got me into running again was watching O’Hare, Guy Learmonth and Laura Muir win races indoor so I follow their careers closely now. Michael Rimmer was out for 8 months and came back and made the world’s team. Steph Twell, horrific injuries but first selection in 6 years. For once Jim White spoke a bit of sense as well. Not the one on Sky, that’ll never happen. The grumpy one from Motherwell AC. Aye him with the hair. He said “These guys are at the top of their respective fields (consider the ones who weren’t selected) and sometimes it just doesn’t happen for them. But they dust themselves down & get back on the horse, to coin one of your phrases, because they love it just as much as your Joe Average club runner does.”

That’s us.

They are like us. I am one of them. I will be back and if I can do another run this week and get through it I may even do a slow parkrun next weekend. If I can get through that I may do Stirling 10k as a training run the following week. Because it’s all about the positivity. I will get there and it may take a while but I will. Why? I love it just as much as your average club runner does, and your internationalist does, and that is my fuel. Sports massage tomorrow as part 1 of my body MOT. I just need to stop eating as much chocolate. See you on those roads near you soon. So Barney or Shaun?  Is this a Blue Monday? Nah, you’re twisting my melon man.