Happiness Is The Road

I will write up a race report for The Viking Way Ultra when I have a little more time. Suffice to say, I DNF’d at 113 miles. That’s a long way to run – but it’s still a DNF.

I rarely run with my iPod as I like to hear the birds singing, the sounds of nature and just the sounds of life. It’s also strangely reassuring to hear one’s own breathing and footfall. I have only resorted to my iPod twice during races. Both times when really struggling and both times the first song to come on has been Happiness Is The Road by Marillion.

“The greatest blessing that we have
Is the dawn of each new day
A chance to finish what we started
And made a mess of yesterday
As day comes out of night
A chance to get it right
A chance to start again
A chance to get it right

The people here
Full of love and comfortable in themselves
Not scared to let go
No fear round here

I met this man
In Utrecht Netherlands
He was a doctor of the body and the soul
He said to me:
Man, there's a book you have to read.
I feel your pain. It makes me cry
But these tears are yours - not mine.

You're focussing on all of your bad yesterdays
The worry lines are getting deeper every day
And deep inside you
No surprise - there's a crisis!
You might have been to blame
But you can't go on this way
Must I watch and pray?

While you torture yourself with what's behind ya
Torture yourself with what awaits ya
Draggin' that guilt and regret inside ya
Anxious of the goals that always evade ya

Your mind will find a way to be unkind to you somehow
But all we really have is happening to us right now

HAPPINESS IS THE ROAD

And each baby..
A human sunrise
Each baby - a human sunrise..

Look around you
Feel your soul inside you
Look inside you
Feel the life course through you
The life that's giving In every thing that's living
The plants and the trees
The birds and the bees
And apes like you and me

HAPPINESS IS THE ROAD
You're a slave to your mind
But you are not your mind
You are not your pain
Say it again
You are not your pain
Say it again
You are not your pain

Happiness aint at the end of the road
Happiness aint at the end of the road
Happiness IS the road
The road

HAPPINESS IS THE ROAD

There are about 180 songs on my “exercise” playlist. The probability of a named song coming up first, twice in a row, is about 1:32,400. Is technology taking the p*ss?!

Oh the irony! “And deep inside you, no surprise - there's a crisis!”

Viking Way Ultra

Well here it is! The 147 mile Viking Way Ultra starts 7am on Saturday morning, with a 40 hour cutoff.

I'm nervous but also strangely calm and quietly confident. I'm under no delusions that is going to be incredibly hard - both physically and mentally. However, I'm not scared as I was before The Spine. With The Spine there was fear of the unknown and fear of being stranded, lost in the cold possibly miles from anyway. With The Viking Way, whilst I know it's going to hurt (a lot!), I also know a lot of the route and it's never far from civilisation. So yes, nervous but not terrified!!

Weather could be interesting. After a couple of weeks of lovely spring, almost summery weather, this week has brought heavy rain (and snow to higher parts) and a massive dip in temperatures. So major quandary on what to wear - I'm bad enough at the best of time. So basically I'm taking a big bag!

Things I must remember:
1. Don't go too fast at the beginning
2. Keep the calories going in

Let's do it - bring it on!!