Running, the FPR, enjoying the Catholic persecution complex and great songs to jog to

In training for the Liverpool Half Marathon, I had First Proper Run (FPR) last night.

People who have run, given up, drifted away and started up etc will recognise the FPR.

The FPR is the one that heralds a campaign and it has to be accompanied by a range of acoutréments. Mine was no different.

Like all modern eejits with too much time on their hands and a range of pointless technology at their disposal, I had everything racked up to the max: heart rate monitor measuring fat man strain and GPS monitoring speed, elevation climbed and every footfall and deviation.

And then I exploded out for a 32 minute 5K - take that Mo Farah. (Mo is more than twice as fast).

I suppose in past times I'd have been disheartened with it having run so much quicker in the past, and I would invariably not have run again. But this is the FPR.

Not this time. I remember reading about how Greg Lemond would lean into the pain and hurt when going into the red on his bike. I'm looking at doing the same but at a much, much humbler a level of achievement.

This time I'm going to enjoy the pain as I build up and get faster and ignore the guilt associated with not doing enough training in the past - there's nothing I can do about that, now. I call it enjoying the Catholic persecution complex.

Anyway, these posts will be about running and music and raising money for MS charities. You need good music if you are to survive the FPR and the week of 'getting back into it.'

First up, an oldie. Incredibly The Stunning's Brewing Up a Storm is 20 years old. Which means I am 20 years older. But as Hugh Dennis used to say on the Mary Whitehouse Experience: "It's got a good beat."