Things that mess up your run #1 – Midges

It’s warm. The sun is setting. The rain has held off. And you are out on the open road enjoying fresh air and endorphins.

And next thing it strikes. The midge.

The Irish midge is a fecker for three reasons.

First, it bites. Not as sore as a mosquito but enough that your head is wrecked by the second decade of the rosary at your local Cemetery Sunday’s. Thankfully for the runner, unless you are hanging around at the end of a run chatting when you should be stretching and home showering, a midge catching up to you to bite is not really a problem.

Second, is it getting into your mouth. While the midge might be a good source of protein there is almost nothing worse than taking a breath of fresh air only for a midge to wander in and get stuck in the gob or worse still swallowed direct, causing an immediate cough/retch to get the little blighter out of there.

Third is the worst, and that is the midge in the eye. Always happening at the worse possible time, unless you get lucky and can rub it out, or are particularly adept to be able to pull the eye-lid down and over the bottom lid and hook it out, then a midge in the eye can bring the best run to a halt as you or your unenviable companion starts to try and fish it out. Never fun for anyone involved.

While there is no real way of avoiding these final two incidents the following can help.

• Avoid running in the evening.
• Avoid river and canal banks.
• Cut down on the talking.
• Breathe through the nose.
• Run behind a really tall person.
• Wear swimming-goggles.
• Learn to run back-wards.

Yesterday

Stretching and conditioning