Updates…
How time flies when you are busy. I know I should be updating this blog – not for anyone who is reading but for my own personal record of how I get on. I find it extremely handy documenting what goes on with my running and fitness.
The last post I made was about the PB at the Swansea 10K. Yes – quite a while back. Since then I have also run the Chester Marathon. There, I managed to knock 42 minutes off my Paris Marathon time. I was aiming for a Sub 4:30 but didn’t quite manage it – achieving a 4:42 instead. Again my body stopped working around mile 19 with a twinge in the hamstring.
I was running with the 4:30 pacer up until mile 19 and we were on target for a 4:24. Now that would have been amazing if my legs had held up. The hamstring twinged and the words of Victor the Asics 262 Psychologist rushed though my mind – change your desirable outcome. Once the leg twinged it went from Sub 4:30 target to a Sub 5 target. I’d banked some minutes so knew I could hit Sub 5. That would have to be good enough.
Then I retired from marathons. As we drove home from Chester I asked why was I putting myself through that. 5 hours of agony. That retirement lasted 3 months. I went out for a run 3 times between October and December. Not ideal – and the whole time at the back of my mind was the nagging feeling of ‘I could do better’.
In November I was asked to run the Llanelli Half with a group of local guys. So maybe not quite full retirement. I worked out when Llanelli HM was taking place and then something made me look 7/8 weeks after to see what was about. Ohhh yesss – I saw that the Manchester Marathon was on 19 April – a full 8 weeks after. Do I or don’t I? That was the question. Still not answered but it looks as if I will be running Manchester in April. More on that in a future post.
Ummm what else – nothing really. I’m back out running. Training for Llanelli – seems to be going well. Getting faster doesn’t seem to be happening, but I’m working on it. Hoping for a Sub 2.