1. Three miles can feel as hard as 13
It took me a while to grasp this. There’s a three mile loop around
Battersea Park in south London. A pleasant trot along the Thames, taking
in Battersea Bridge; lovely, sparkly Albert Bridge; a few trees; some
nice green space. I hated it.
Somehow, that loop felt ridiculously hard, and it was made all the
harder by a swelling sense of panic that I couldn’t manage a mere five
kilometres. And yet eight miles, 15 miles, 20 miles were all possible.
Sometimes they were difficult, sometimes they were brilliant. I learned
not to berate myself on the shorter runs, and to keep adding too, or
switching, the distance. Mentally, it doesn’t seem to make much
difference.