Our Sportswide don is clearly a sporty guy (as in huge fan) but it’s never that easy to actually get sporty oneself what with being on the road or in studio as much as he is. I’m guessing that cause we recently dropped off a great pair of running shoes to Gilles, amongst other reasons of course as he explains below, that he’s committing right here in front of us all to gulp take on a Marathon !!!  you go Gilles, we’re with you all the way and even happier if it’s the LA Marathon next year ….. to boost the odds, we’ll ask our triathlete pros like Luke McKenzie, Chris Lieto, Terenzo Bozzone or especially Katya Meyers and Jenny Fletcher to assist !

The time is here ! as I glide through passport control at Singapore’s Changi airport for the umpteenth time I finally decide that on my next passage through these shores I’ll either have or will be in the process of completing my first Marathon. I was in this headspace around the same time last year mind you, but following the overuse of my right thigh muscle, (whilst wearing the wrong shoes may I add) I ended up spending far too much time in recovery followed by a couple of false dawns during which I simply reignited the troubles by coming  (back) a little too soon

- but 12 months on with specially moulded insoles in a pair of K-Swiss misoul techs I once again feel the need to finally overcome my demons and attempt to better my life, save my health and possibly make myself look a little less like a DJ cliche ! it shall start on arrival in Tokyo – for starters I’ll attempt to cancel drink during the ‘non gig’ days – this will certainly help in the ‘just a quick fag before I play stakes’ and I’ll make full use of the pool/gym in the Cerulean Towers where I’m sleeping.

I should add at this point that I’m extremely prone to extreme behaviour – which of course is a good thing – specially when my sights target an Ironman at some stage! so onwards and upwards with Murakami books for company – my first stage will be
to complete a half marathon by Easter followed by at least one of the major city big ones in 2010 – New York looks like a sensible target November 2010 – exactly 1 year away – I know it seems distant but with my schedule I think its reasonable. The key thing here is not to re injure – plenty of stretching and warming up.

I do find that jogging is a really good way to discover a city, a little in the same way as David Byrne’s ‘bicycle diaries’ book that just came out in which he carries his fold up to all the towns and cities he finds himself  – Personally, I ran Havana, Melbourne, Geneva, New York, Milan, Kyoto, Bastia and Paris in between leg wounds this year and boy did I love it !! you can get straight into the nitty gritty of a place – specially
when you do it at the crack of dawn.

I don’t listen to music when running though! I like the sound of distant conversations and breaking waves as I tread the streets ! so enough moaning and excuse making from me … this is it – the time is here – I start to run !!

Gilles Peterson presents Havana Cultura – New Cuba Sound out Oct 26