Stretching the legs
Flying West to East is known as the beast, the jetlag really hits you.
After not such a great night, being awake from 12 ‘till about three, I finally crashed out into a deep sleep, totally exhausted. At nine I was suddenly awoken from this rem sleep by a knocking on the door. I shot upright in an absolute daze. Where the hell was I, what’s going on? Totally disorientated I fell out of bed, looked around in an absolute daze. Then it hit me as the memory slowly rejigged itself. “Oh, shit I am in China.”
I stumbled to the door, slowly opened it and there stood Pete and Andy, ready for the run we had arranged the previous night. The chirps started immediately, “Old man uncle D” and the rest… “get up we don’t have all day to waste….”
I just closed the door saying “I will see you in 5 on the 3rd floor for a quick coffee “.
We headed out towards the magnificent Birds nest Olympic stadium and the Aqua centre.
Spectacular architectural masterpieces that now stand as monuments paying respect to the athletes who came to compete in all the various sporting disciplines. Suddenly the whole vibe of China hit us as the streets became alive with hustle and bustle of people all enjoying a warm sunny winter’s day, running, cycling and admiring the whole Olympic precinct.
As we ran towards this spectacular backdrop it just seemed to energise us as we trundled down the massive road leading to the stadium. Our legs suddenly lightened as we picked up speed and were sucked into the whole world of sport. Faster and faster we went, I felt I just wanted to shout out and let out the months of frustration to the build-up to the event.
Then sanity prevailed as we slowed to a trot; there are thousands of kilometres ahead, its day-by-day, hour-by-hour and step-by-step slowly we will get there and no need for injuries before we even start.
