I have been a gazelle. A limping one.

Sometime things are good, sometime less so. My running has been off for a while. As things are it started with a gentle twitch in my right leg. That wouldn't be a problem - usual Camino style suggests to just walk it off, stop the training and recover. So I did. Just kept on with cycling and martial arts.

Right... martial arts. The ones where you throw someone on the ground and then break their arms in three places followed by 17 different types of strangulations. Jujitsu. Thing it sometimes you get hurt. Actually you get hurt a lot. So I couldn't really run for a little bit.

And remember that guy that claimed not so long ago that he hates to run? Yeah. I was practical climbing up the walls with excess energy. Luckily I'm back on track. Taking it easy, just 3-4 km or so but my stamina is not gone.

How to feel like a movie star

You already know an answer. Start preparing for a marathon. Do you remember the stories about unsuspecting person being dragged into events that they can't fully comprehend but play along? They struggle, they fight, have moments of weaknesses but due to persistence and stubbornness they finally win, get half a prince and a kingdom?

Today was the day when I actually had to really, really draw on persistence and willingness to keep on. Fair to say it wasn't the most amazing weeks on many fronts, but when I ran out from the office into typical London's miserable drizzle it was hard not to come back. All in all I did my allotted 6km, got soaking wet and frustrated and spent the next meeting in the office steadily dripping onto someone's project plan. Note to self - get a towel.

All in all things are progressing, I got a heart rate monitor which should tell me soon whether I'm fit, just stubborn or dead. Sunday should also be the day when I try to breach a bit longer distance. Following an advice from an apparently expert runner from my office - 10 km should be the goal. Oh, joy.

John Butler puts February on the scale

First of all, I would like to put down that I am sticking to training plans NOT 'cos I'm some kind of a miserable geek, but whenever I tried to run a bit more I ended up in pain with an injury. So I let the pros call the shots. I have spoken, uff, uff!

To demostrate my progress, January was like this:

In comparison, February was like this:

So this is the triangle of success.

(Should I mention John Butler Trio, I understand no jokes. Take these two videos as homework, I'm gonna hear the lesson for sure: you may have a gallows look in case you roll down too fast.)

And now - dear lawyer friends - some numbers and extraordinary statistics:

3,013 m (04.01.) --> 5,240 m (01.02.) -->10,600m (02.03.)
00:10:00 run + 00:20:00 walk --> 00:40:00 run --> 1:12:46 run

No comment! Should anybody worry about my health because of my huge flop on Sunday, I report, I'm back in business with 8,898 m.
From March gadget factor is incerasing as well.

And this I wish to send to Piotrek remembering camino and to emphasise how very happy I am that he has the suitable shoes:

Of ... things past

I thought Piotrek appreciates our friendship because I'm such a wonderful person. (Aaand I didn't let him die at Arré.) But never mind. It's the Piotrek factor.

About the Hungarian thing. Quote from Enrico Fermi the Nobel prize winner physicist:

"Do extra-terrestrial beings exist?  They are already here among us, they are called Hungarians."

Of things past

There is a very special reason for which I appreciate friendship with Nika. It's not really the fact that she dragged me into practical homelessness across the surface of Spain or inspired me to run like a maniac along the small streets of London. Not really. It's the Hungarian thing (and the fact that she's simply amazing).

I'll need you to take a breath as I'm just about to unleash my Hungarian on you. Lengyel, magyar — két jó barát, együtt harcol s issza borát. Right, still with me? The meaning is roughly: Pole, Hungarian — two good friends, together they battle and drink their booze. Amazingly we have the very same saying in Polish: Polak, Węgier dwa bratanki i do szabli i do szklanki. Both nations have a couple of varieties of this saying, mentioning horses, sabers, drinks and general things of joy.

That's about all Hungarian I know*. I did try to learn it in a relatively short bout of madness but abandoned all hope of ever getting it quite soon. It's a weird one, really. Highly logical but insanely alien. Based on the language alone you can make out that Hungarians aren't really from this 'hood. The lot above, under and to the right speak beautiful, understandable languages. The lot to the left speaks somewhat understandable language too. My theory is that Hungarian mother-ship crash-landed in the area some time in the 8th century and they stayed on. Or evolved from ants.

The saying came about in 1772 but the relationship dates back to 1370 when we shared a king - Louis I of Hungary. I'm not sure who took which part of the said king but he was generally liked and granted some interesting privileges to our nobility (which they kept on expanding until our state collapsed and got partitioned in the late XVIII** century). Quite a few times in our shared history both countries helped each other and we've always got some decent wine from down south. On a side note - since 2007 the 23rd March is named as a day of Polish-Hungarian friendship in both countries.

* Aside of: "Thank you" and "Three beers, please." Yes, precisely three and regardless of circumstances no less and no more. ** Roman numerals! How fancy it that!

Of much excitement

Last week I got told off by Nika for running in trekking shoes. Well, that's my usual problem - just getting on with things and catching up on the fine details as they come. It's good I'm not doing parachute jumping, as I'm sure somewhere mid-flight I would start looking for a string to pull and prevent myself from splashing.

So, the shoes. Typically I would do some research online & get them off Amazon or any other decent retailer. However I got a glowing recommendation about one of local shops. And hey, they were good. After lots of grief I had with a couple of high street shops it was a big change. All in all most London shops try to get high margins so knowledge & quality is not something they look for in employees. Low salary is.

I popped in, told them what I'm up to, explained I have never ran before & that I'm not a lunatic. They didn't seem to believe it too much but having heard a bit of the story (Camino, plans to cycle through Amber Route, etc.) decided they're on. So the quest started - I tried 9 different pairs, each time going for a short run while one of the staff watched. And got my perfect shoes. Plus 25% discount. Ain't that great?

So, now off to my 5 km daily run

A moment later...Right, I thought this is going to be a huge change. As in between running with bricks tied to your feet and running in proper shoes. On this front it wasn't. However having reviewed my 6km (planned approach, go figure) performance there are changes:

• Previously I was getting slower with each passing kilometer, by roughly 15 s per each. Currently I'm maintaining the same pace of 6:15 minutes per kilometer. Plus the last lap actually took only 5 min 45 s. That's the best result ever
• My average pace increased by about 0,5 kmph
• Both of above happened without me noticing

So yes, there's a difference, albeit subtle one. I'm sure also my joints will benefit as the overall feeling of running is much smoother.

On current developements

Yesterday I ran 7.5 km. I know it might not be big on the marathon scale but if felt bloody amazing. This distance possibly is more than I ran in my life before. Total. Combined. And yet I was able to pull it off and honestly - felt quite great once I finished. Interestingly I did not plan on doing it, but I like "exploratory" running so much I just got carried away.

The principle is quite an easy one. Just get out there and see what's behind the corner. And behind the next one too. And carry on as long as you feel it's fun. There are only two recommendations I would make: try to run in a big circle, so you are close to home at the end or accept the fact that you'll need to run back in the end. That's what happened to me - wanted to run 3 km, but at the end of the three I was in the middle of nowhere and had to get home. So I ran back.

You might wonder why 7.5 km rather than six? Well, that's where the 2nd recommendation comes in. Carry a smartphone with full battery to handle GPS mode. Or you'll run randomly trying to find your way back and you'll cover some extra mileage. Don't get me wrong - it's still fun but you've got to have time for this so the best time to go a bit ga-ga with your running might be the weekend.