Royal Parks Half Marathon 2013

What a brilliant day!

What a brilliant course.

The organisation was fantastic.

The crowds were loud.

Look forward to the ballot next year, i'm definitely putting my name in again.

Here's my route and timing. 
Royal Parks Half Marathon 2013

Link to the official web site
http://www.royalparkshalf.com/

What race next?

Well I can tell you, it's all quite now over the summer and my next race will be the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London on October 6th.

I've checked the course out and it all seems rather flat, so depending on the weather (as long as it's not 90F again; i'm sure it won't be), then I have a feeling that a new PB could be in order. I got a new one at St. Albans, on a course which was tough, so London should be a lot easier

I've been checking out my Garmin 610 and the virtual partner function seems like it will be my best buddy in October. I'll give it a trial run over 5k or 10k in the next few weeks and see how effective it is.

looking forward to the RP-2013 technical shirt to come through the door too!

Happy Running!

92F - Are you crazy?

So, after St Albans and a very cool day, a new PB was delivered. Excellent.

A month on and hit the NSPCC Half Marathon.

The weather was unforgiving. Averaging somewhere close to 90F the sun beat down on all 2000 runners and water seemed all to scarce. Onlookers with hosepipes sprayed us as we went by. That didn't stop a good few people crashing out with heat exhaustion. I'm glad to say I wasn't one of them and that most finished. I don't believe anyone smashed any records, I think peoples main goal was to finish.

My watch measured this in the shade, it's only n the sun to get more light for the camera.

2 Days to go - St Albans Half Marathon

Weather looks like it will give us a dry sunny day.

Maybe a little warm but lots of fluids.


Big smile!

6 Days to go - St Albans Half Marathon

Only 6 days to go!

The weather forecast suggests a nice (ish) day, hopefully not too hot. the family is prepared and the other club runners are ready.

Family day out at the races.

Finally all the numbers have arrived. All the family is set for  fun day out. Tea and medals on the 9th at the St Albans Half Marathon.

This looks fun! Glacier 3000, Switzerland.

Half Marathon with a twist. 26km run with a 2km ascent to the top of a glacier. It sounds a good idea but I bet it hurts. Happy Running.

Rubbing salt into a wound.

This last week, everywhere i've been there have been congratulations and pictures and posters and every social media device is reporting the same. OK, well done to everyone who took part in the 2nd Milton Keynes Marathon last Monday, the weather was great and it looked really fun. Unfortunately I was watching it instead of running it! Note for your diaries - 5th May 2014, next years Marathon, to which I WILL be on the starting line. http://www.mkmarathon.co.uk/ Happy Running.

My decision is final, unless I change my mind

I set out early this morning on my weekly long run and spent 1 - 2 hours cruising feeling reasonably good about the whole thing but I knew how I felt and could see the result in Marathon conitions. As I had nothing to prove, this was just a training run, I cut short the end by about a mile or so as it was clear where I was. Due to all the issues earlier on in the year resulting in lack of time to train and pains and other things I am definitely not in shape for the Marathon next monday. I might be able to reach the end but it would be more likely that I went running until I had to give up. And with this in mind common sense says don't push on, accept that i'm not going to make it and carry on working through the recovery process and getting back to a level where I could do the Marathon. Today's run has highlighted that a Half Marathon should be a good stepping stone now but not aiming for a new PB. So i've entered one in 6 weeks time. And to top it all, my son is entered into the children's 1.5 mile run, now that is exciting. He'll be absolutely stoked when he crosses the line and gets his medal. So training drops back a notch but carries on for more weeks. Maybe I need a new training plan. Happy Running.

1 Week to Marathon day

Oh good grief! There's one week to go till the first marathon of the year and i'm in turmoil whether i'll be on the starting line or not. Training has been on-going, but as my last post will confirm there's not been enough time to train for a decent finish. today or tomorrow will be the last long run before the race so either by tomorrow or Tuesday i'll know what shape i'm in for next week. I'm still in a mind to not bother however there's part of me that says just go along and take it easy and have some fun for 26 miles. For sure, if after my long run I feel that i'm too far away from the required level then i'll abandon it. If I think there's half a chance then I i'll hold the decision till next Sunday evening. (Race on Monday). Maybe the weather will decide. Oh to be decisive! Happy Running.

No time for training

Well there's actually lots of time for training during a day, just not enough days left before the Marathon. Another 2 weeks on from injury recovery and have done nothing to aggravate any injuries, in fact i've been on holiday enjoying the sun. So i've started again with a plan to ease my way back up to previous levels at a very gradual pace. While doing a short 3 miler this morning I couldn't work out how many days were left before the Marathon. Since i've got home it runs out that we are just under 3 weeks away. Well that's definitely that then, I couldn't get up to speed in that time even if I had nothing else to do. It does mean that the pressure is completely off as there is no way that I can be ready in time. Never mind there are plenty of events later in the year, I'm booked for one in October but I would think i can squeeze something in before then. Onwards and upwards.

Recovery is more important than taking the challenge

A couple of months with no updates, there are reasons. So toward the end of 2012 I set out to regain my running levels in readiness for Marathon training for a spring Marathon in 2013. Just after Christmas I set out with a new Garmin plan which seemed solid enough and for 4 weeks did what it said. Then an unfortunate accident happened. ( I blame Google). Walking down the road, following google maps on my phone, I tripped on a step and very badly sprained my ankle. Bad enough in fact that I went to A&E to check that it wasn't broken. OK, so soft tissue injuries take a while to recover but I was confident that this was only a set back. 4 weeks on and after some intensive physio I went for an exploration on a treadmill. Managed to get to a gentle run and was confident it was upward from here. Next few days I did similar tests at a very easy pace, only just a job really but managed to get going up to a mile and eased the pace up occasionally to flex the joints. A week later I was on the road, testing against the real world where there are uneven surfaces, cambers and corners, all of which highlighted that I was not 100% but I was doing OK. Another week went by and I was loosening up nicely and many of the niggles had gone. I was still using supports for added reassurance but with a mind to go without and see how things turned out. So one last reasonable run before going back to basics. Unfortunately during this 8 miler it seems that the support bandage around my ankle rubbed too much on my forefoot. Gradually running became uncomfortable and a couple of hours after, my foot hurt on the top and had a slight swelling, exactly where the rib of the support had been. Seems it's really aggravated the tendons and stuffed any recovery plans good and proper for now. It's been 2 weeks since this happened and as soft tissue injuries can take some weeks to recover it's looking more and more unlikely that I could get back out and up to speed for me early May race. So with this in mind, although my Marathon entry is still valid I have acknowledged and more importantly accepted that it's probably not going to happen this time round. So trying to keep some level of fitness up without doing anything that could risk my ankle/foot using the pool and the gym, i'm effectively having a holiday from running. (probably till April or even May). I have a couple of Half Marathons planned for later in the year (late summer / autumn) and I hope that a very gradual training process will rebuild the strength and stability that I had a couple of months ago. It's not what I wanted but sometimes there isn't a choice and we have to accept it.