Finally, a decent run.....

Marathon T

What a difference a day makes…

I have finally managed a run worthy of the name. After almost a week off I had scheduled an 8 mile ‘steady’ run for last night. As I left the house and set up the Garmin, I felt pretty good and set off at a decent pace, thinking I would ease up as I got into my stride. As I passed the first mile I was still feeling ok – so just got my head down and focused on the hill. Descending the other side I still felt remarkably well, had a check in with the legs and they were fine – so decided to see how far the pace would get me. Passing half way I began to get tired and an odd twinge developed in my right knee, with the ‘agonies of Marathon B’ in my mind (that surely has to be the title of his book), I pressed on.

The way back was hard work (very hard work in places) I had a bad patch at 4.5 miles due to an increase in pace (no idea why) – but checked the watch, slowed down and settled back into the run. I managed to keep the pace up and maintain my effort over the hill at 6.5 miles and down into the flat end section. Passing the Chinese (who puts a Chinese take away at the end of an 8 mile run – b*stards) I was so glad when the watch began counting down the last few metres. I finished with a gentle warm down back to the house.

I completed the 8 miles in 1:01:49 (avg pace 7:48 per mile).

So, with an eye to the weekend – I managed less than 1/3 of the marathon distance and took over an hour, and was absolutely knackered at the end. Anyone aiming for a sub 3 hour Marathon this weekend has my utmost respect.

While my father was here in the week he was telling me about a gent from his club who won the V70 race – in case you are confused that is runners over 70 (seventy!) years old – in the FLM two years ago in 3:29:00….as far as I am concerned that is a superhuman effort…In fact that’s almost a different species.

This nicely puts my short run last night into perspective…out again tonight for a 5 mile gentle jog.

Marathon T