The impossible had happened. I had volunteered for the Dew Pond Run. Seven miles uphill from sea level to 2817ft on Ascension Island. I had done no running (other than for the odd train) since I had been at school 30 years before, when I had striven not to be last in cross-country runs.So reads the opening paragraph of a piece I wrote for an internal newsletter at my work. Remarkably it was published unchanged - but with some appropriate graphics - headlined “How I went from George Town to Dew Pond in 1 Hour 49 Minutes and 30 Seconds” in July 1992.
On the cover was written To Be Seen By All Staff . But that may be because it also contained a lot of management propaganda about pay and equal opportunities.
My placing was 83rd overall, 4th out of the 8 in my team of colleagues from the office, and a mere 49 minutes behind the winner - an RAF PTI who allegedly was a bit miffed to miss the sub-1 hour target he had set himself.
So, you may say, I am not a virgin runner after all.
Well, my case is that I did a lot of walking - I did not “go all the way” running:-
The air was cooler and more damp at that altitude. I was running again and found I was catching up and passing many exhausted runners slipping about dispiritedly. Previously having walked to the Dew Pond I knew that the hardest part came at the end: maybe they knew too.What lessons does this hold for me now?
"Past performance is no guide to future returns." - The FSA
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