just me and michael palin

A lunchtime ten miler on Thursday left me feeling a bit deflated. It seemed like a looooong run, my thighs were tight and towards the end, I began to get bored.

There have been a few things posted recently about running with podcasts and audiobooks and the idea had been rattling around inside my empty head for some time but it wasn’t until a chance, texted comment about audiobooks from Hauling My Carcass on Saturday morning that I seriously considered it. There then followed a to-ing and fro-ing of texts (a “textversation”???) about potential titles. Jo Nesbo’s The Leopard? No… requires too much concentration and is probably too harrowing. The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy? Mmmm… not convinced. Then Hauling My Carcass suggested something by Michael Palin. It was a Goldilocks moment – not too hot, not too cold but just right.
Not such a long time ago, I would’ve jumped on the motorbike and headed off to the nearest bookshop in search of the audiobook but, thanks to the magic of the internet and a broadband connection, Around The World In 80 Days was downloaded whilst I watched The Killing on BBC4 and dropped onto my mp3 player late last night. A quick check confirmed that quality was OK and that the chapters ran in the correct order and so to bed.

This morning I headed out accompanied not by the driving madness of The Prodigy or the intensity of Killing Joke but by Michael Palin’s reassuring Oxbridge tones. We started our journey in Pall Mall and by the time he had reached Venice, I had settled into a comfortable pace and was enjoying zoning out to tales of far flung places. For me, this book is the perfect running accompaniment: It is easy on the ear, enjoyable to listen to and, if you don’t quite hear the odd word or phrase, you do not have to rewind to check if you have missed an important intricacy in the plot. I knew roughly how far I had run at any given point as the route is fairly familiar but did not need to check the Garmin. I was happy just to continue running whilst Mr Palin regaled me with his travelogue.

I got to the end of my run still feeling fresh. It was a touch ( and we are talking mere seconds) slower than last weeks run around almost exactly the same route but I felt envigorated not weary. Mr Palin had made it almost as far as India but the Garmin reported that I had accomplished just 17.02kms.

Soundtrack to this post: Twist & Crawl – The Beat