As I shuffled down the road this morning, breathing so hard I sounded like an obscene phone call, it occurred to me that running has a lot in common with writing.
1. I’d much rather stay in bed where it’s warm than get up and do it.
2. I look at how far there is to go and feel certain I’ll never make it all the way to the end.
3. Doing it is painful, but I want to keep going because the virtuous glow of achievement I get afterwards brightens my whole day.
4. Doing it is painful – except for those rare moments that make it all worthwhile, when I feel like I’m flying and it’s so effortless I think I could go on forever. (In running, these are the downhill bits. In writing it’s generally the last few scenes as you race to the end of the book.)
5. I know that if I persist I’ll gradually improve, so that there’ll be more flying and less painful staggering. At least I hope so!
At the moment my running prowess would probably get me a part as a zombie extra in a movie. Anyone got any good running tips for me? (Other than: don’t.)