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So last Sunday saw my return to “competitive” running for the first time in two years, and it fact it was this race two years ago that was my last.

Expertly organised and run by the Marlow Striders this is a hard run through the beautiful Chilterns. With 4-5 weeks of training under my belt I was ready, hanging back at the start line firmly in the 120 minutes plus section I was wondering if I’d get round on “ability” or determination, this wasn’t about the PB this was about getting out there and running and just getting off my arse.

The start was signalled by a rocket and runners were reminded to go on the “bang” and not the “whoosh” There wasn’t much of a bang, but there was a cheer and clapping from the 1200 assembled runners and we started moving off, the first couple of k’s are all up hill and going off too fast here will ruin your day, I set off with no expectation and stuck to a steady and slow pace, the difference it makes when you are aiming to get around rather than get a PB. Heading out of Marlow the climb wasn’t as punishing as it seemed a couple of years ago and I was happy in myself with progress as the mile markers ticked by, dropping down the hill into the next valley was nice after all the up hill.

The course remains flat for a few miles before the inevitable turn for home around 7 miles and just before the 8 mile marker you face the climb back out of the valley with a steep hill that whilst lasting only 400 – 500 metres really takes the energy out of your legs, there is then a couple more miles of relatively flat road before another climb and then the nice steady drop back down the road you started up a few hours ago and into Marlow. The race is superbly organised and enthusiastic marshals line the route. The marshals are mainly runners themselves being members of the Marlow Striders who aren’t allowed to enter their own race.

The weather was overcast most of the time with the occasional sun break through and there was no wind, until turning the corner at about 6 miles into a headwind (you never notice a tail wind) however with most of the running done in sheltered lanes the wind wasn’t too much of an issue.

All in all a great race and one I’ll be doing next year all be it with more training miles in the legs and maybe a shot at a PB!

This year : 02:19:22
Course PB : 02:03:48

So I have a ballot place for the London Marathon in 2009, now I need some suggestions for a charity to raise money for…

Post below.

So after trying for a number of years to get a place on the London Marathon via the ballot, I have one.

So a “few” months of running coming up then.

My time for the Gyro 10k….

Yes I’m disappointed, after my performance at London (which I’m still writing up) I was hoping I’d be able to achieve at least one target for this year, namely a sub 50 minute 10k.

The weather on the day wasn’t too bad, certainly no chance of dehydration this year and in spite of not a lot of training over the last couple of weeks I was feeling ok at the start, first few k’s passed well and although just outside my target time the fact I’ve always been able to run faster at the end gave me the confidence that all was good, then just before 6km I rolled my ankle and had to hop to a stop.

*bugger*

It was going to be a long, slow, cold walk back to the finish, or as I started walking and the pain eased a painful, fast run back to the finish.

In the end the ankle held up for the full distance but there were a couple of corners that I took slower than I would’ve otherwise done.

So not an enjoyable race, probably the end of the season and now time to get back into base training and also decide what races to do next year. In my mind I’m just going to pick a couple of races and really focus on training for those, this year has seen me do a half marathon, four sprint triathlons, my first olympic triathlon, couple of 5km / 10km races and a duathlon, so 2009 maybe I should just do two or three races in total, and actually devise a training regime based around that….

…it’s almost like a plan.

oh and ankle is stiff and sore this morning, not sure I’ll be doing much running this week.

(or come in number 38503, your time is up)

So yesterday I ran my first half marathon, 21Km through the streets of Gothenburg with Steve and I have to say I really enjoyed it, my finish time was better than I expected, I felt I managed to pace it fairly and at the end of the race although I knew I could’ve gone a bit further, it wasn’t like I had an excess of energy and hadn’t given the race all I should.

So my official time is 2 hours 3 minutes and 48 seconds (placing 18719 out of 45000), I was aiming for 2 hours to 2 hours 30 minutes, but to be that close to 2 hours is great, but also I feel that if a few of the water stations hadn’t had so many (idiots) just stopping dead at the first table causing me to stop dead a couple of times and with a little bit more effort I could’ve cracked 2 hours…. oh well next race.

Just sitting in the airport (GOT) now waiting for a flight back to LHR.

Big thanks to Steve, Lotta and of course Simon for looking after me for the last couple of days, I’ve certainly seen more of Gothenburg this time around than I did during my last visit.

So 16th May 2009 ?

It’s all about the personal bests, getting better, beating yourself, going faster, harder and longer….

So this weekend see’s Mike break new ground and enter a 5Km race at Dorney Lake.

So vote on the new survey…. (and good luck Mike)

Today was the Gyro 10k a warm day and a very good run (apart from being stung by a wasp around the 4k mark…)

Got a PB : 51:16 (according to the timing chip) and as impressive is the fact i managed to record an HR of 198BPM as I crossed the line… my max should be 187BPM (220 – age!)

*grin*

So the month of January has been and gone and with my procastinating the London Tri has now closed and I don’t have a place… TBH the thought of swimming in a dock has never really appealed but that’s no excuse, although the training is going well (picked up a pair of the ugliest trainers in the world ever yesterday, replacing the really ugly pair I had before) and I’m feeling better I’m not really seeing much size of improvement.

Amusingly I played squash last weekend as a friendly match as part of the Magnet Squash League I’ve joined…. amazing what you can find with Google and sign yourself up for.

Took about 3 days to recover from the squash games, but then I was also trying to remember the last time I played, probably before I broke my leg, and it wasn’t like I was a regular player before.

Still should be fun playing in the league, just hope they aren’t all of an amazing standard.