The magnificent lunacy of ultra running
This weekend I didn't do a whole lot of running myself - coming down with a cold that turned into a temperature and sore throat yesterday put paid to most of my plans. I did, however, watch an awful lot of miles being run. If only they counted as marathon training, I'd be well ahead of schedule ... The magnificently bonkers Susie Chan On Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning we were at Tooting Bec track, watching the early and then the last few hours of the 24 hour track race. Yes, that is 24 hours, round and round a 400m track. Now, I love a good track session. I've been known to tot up 14, 15 miles round one at the peak of marathon training. But 24 hours? Non stop, eating on the go, through a truly grim day and night of pouring rain and autumnal-verging-on-wintery temperatures? That, my friends, is magnificent lunacy. Why anyone would want do it is a moot question. Perhaps, as Mallory apocryphally said of climbing Everest, "because it's there". W