A Letter to New Zealand

Hometown 

The  UK

 

To New Zealand

Hello there, just a quick to note to say I landed and arrived back in one piece, oh who am I trying to fool I desperately miss you and long to see and spend time together once again. I hope Mt Taranaki is doing well and is still behaving I did see him on the way back to Auckland and waved but I doubt he saw me as he had his blanket of snow on him. I hear that his cousins Mt Ngauruhoe, Tongariro and Ruapehu are all behaving themselves and have yet to let off any steam unlike old White Island that is getting his temper back. Well I hope they are missing me as much as I am them. 

That reminds me how is Aoraki doing? Has he got any smaller since I left? I suppose he will never shrink down to his brother height Mt Tasman any time soon but if he keep shaking then more than snow and ice are going to fall. Are people still using his nickname of Mt Cook I always felt strange using it around him. He truly a wonderful sight to spend time with and I feel I may miss him the most out of all the mountains, his home was so peaceful and still. I only meant to see him for the afternoon but we just hit off and a week later I had to wave goodbye.

I hear that Northland is having a spot of bother with a little bit of wind, I really hope it isn’t too serious, while I spent little time with her up there I did love the beaches and coves which reminds me I never got to pay a visit to Abel Tasman before I left I hear that she was pretty shaken up over the recent storm that hit her and Nelson Lakes quite hard. Now he was a character and gent, never a dull moment walking the track in his company and while the views might not have  been as impressive as old grandfather Routeburn or Milford the vistas were reward enough if not then the weather certainly was. 

Have you heard anything from Wellington, I feel that she should have been in contact either by Skype or email. Even the odd ‘like’ from her on Facebook would be nice but I’ve heard nothing and lets face it, I did spend most of my time with her so feel quite abandoned. She had such a wonderful personality so vivid and wild a real sense of humour but she’s probably busy. I always liked that about her, she would never stop always had something going on. I hope ChristChurch is still on the mend when I saw him he was still down in the dumps and as for Queenstown the less said about him and Auckland the better, sometimes you just know you aren’t going to get on and take an instant dislike. I tried with Auckland I really did, but QT I knew from the off. 

Anyway I hope you’re keeping well I promise I will be back. There was so many of your family I never visited or spent enough time with. Next time when I’m over I promise I’ll spend more time with little Wanaka and pray he doesn’t go the same way of his older brother QT, and hopefully Nelson will still be up for partying hard. You really were such a kind and generous host. You had such a fresh way of doing stuff, sometimes a little old and outdated but somehow it felt right and it seemed to work. Nothing was ever a hassle and there was never a rush and for that I have to say thank you.

Oh well I will leave you to carry on being awesome but thank you once again New Zealand for being a really great wonderful host. To say I enjoyed and will be treasuring my time I spent with you and your family does not even begin to cover it. 

Chur’s Bro

A letter

To Thomas,

I know you enjoy it and you read all the mags and articles on that world wide web thingy. I even know you have that race coming up and that you are determined to break some PB in a couple of months time. But I do beg you to listen to me.

I enjoyed the two weeks off that I had and really enjoyed taking it easy but you must remember I am not a car. I can’t be started up and driven long distances, I need to warm up and get back in the game.

After this week, and I will be the first to admit the mileage is very little and the work load has been on the small scale but I am feeling it. Feeling so much that come Sunday I may refuse to play ball at the start line and if I do play along I may throw in the towel in the last 400 meters.

So if you don’t want a DNF on you record then may I suggest you spend the next two days giving me a rest. Giving me some TLC. It’s all well and good running long and hard and doing hills and speed work but like you I need time to recover and the harder you train the longer I need.

Off course you are able to help in this matter. Some more protein, seeds, nuts, fruit. Less bad fat and chocolate. Plenty of stretching after the runs. At least half an hour. You use to be so good at your warm downs now you seem to think a poxey five minutes with the foam roller will suffice. Well have I got news for you… It won’t.

Like a car I need the correct fuel and maintenance. If you spend time looking after me I will perform and keep on performing for many years to come. I’ve shown my worth in the past… Looking how your PB’s keep being smashed. Look how far I have carried you. The speed I have travelled.

So please take note. I’m tired, and I really don’t want us to fall out over this as I know how happy you get when pounding the streets. But you won’t be happy when I can’t carry you forward and get an injury.

I hear from Left and Right Foot that you treated them to some new socks and trainers. They pass on their gratitude. Now if you can only show me the same respect and give me some rest. The miles I am use too. The new training scheme of hills and speed is something I need to get use to, and this needs time. Heart and Lung do their best, but over the years I’ve adapted to long distance and need time to adjust. And I’m not just talking about in training. Recovery is when I grow and repair myself and at the moment you are refusing to give me that time.

So I beg of you Thomas. Please surrender the trainers until Sunday and allow me and your body to recover.

Thank you for your time

Your’s

Legs.

 

 

A Letter

Hello,

Just a quick note to let you know how we are all doing. I have given you several warnings but you  seem to have ignored them, while I know that this is an unfair statement as you did take a couple of weeks off with the foot and went to see a trained professional I am sure that I am correct in saying this is the only time, and while you did carry the exercises out while you had the injury I am informed by the hips that you soon gave them up once you could run without pain.

There was the episode last week where you carried on running and I told you to stop but with no result, with that little incident I had to shut your legs off to make you stop. You also seem to be eating a lot of carb’s and sweets and your belly informs me that you are still loosing weight as we can’t store energy for long enough before your legs demand it. You’ll looking good tho, but the skeleton and knees would rather be carrying the weight of a 17 stone man than suffering the impact of a six-mile run four times a week, not that we aren’t glad to shed the 4 stone of blubber that you had, but your heart and lungs don’t know what have hit them over the past year. It’s all well good doing this running but you use to be a heavy drinker and smoker who sat on his arse.

Anyway I’ve been informed by the memory department that there are only two weeks left until race day so soon we can all rest. Well that is what I have been led to believe however I have received a memo from the eye’s telling me that they saw you writing dates down in May. I might as well take this opportunity to pass on the message from everyone. When you do your three 10K’s in May please remember to treat them as recovery runs, no PB’s, Now I mean it NO PERSONAL BESTS we will still be recovering from the 26.2 miles you dragged us through two weeks previous.

Now my colleague over at phyc tells me it all started to build self-esteem and loose weight plus the prospect of turning 30 well I have had a look and you have achieved your goals but some how it has infected your entire soul this running bug that has been analysed by the immune department is multiplying in your blood. The boys down in the virus department can not combat it and I was rather hoping it would be like that illness you had back in 95 that suddenly went away one day but it seems to be growing and everything ‘the mind’ is doing to get rid off it is just making it worse. We thought getting you to enter the Great North would rid you off it but that just made you crave more running and more half’s, and the idea of the marathon has just stepped up the determination.

To sum up, while we all adore what you are doing and the benefits you are bringing us you are also bringing us pain and putting extra strain on us, for example only this week I had sent the builders out to repair the muscle wall of your calve and no sooner had they finished, they had to pack up and leave as the calve had received orders to start a 8 mile tempo run. Spoiling us with a days rest and stretches and dark chocolate and more carbs is not good enough.

Please just remember we are not a machine, we can not fix and recovery from daily abuse as quick a car, to come to that you are not a car or a plane while your ancestors were born to run to escape predators and to hunt your body has changed over the years and it certainly was never designed to run the 80 miles a week those magazines tell you, you should be running while training. I can assure you we are all looking forward to the time you taper your runs and the weeks of rest I will force upon you after the marathon.

So please share a thought for your body

Your’s faithfully

The Brain