It's Christmas

....so not that much in the way of running to write about. It was great to have the family about for Christmas. At the age they are now, this may be the last time all four of us are together to open presents on Christmas morning, I guess that day will come. It's great to have the girls home; With Lauren staying 'up North' and Gemma at uni the house has seemed quite strange these past few months.

A brief round-up of the week :-

9 miles run with Stuart on Christmas eve.

6 sessions brought in 39.27 miles for the week, damn, if I'd have known I would have done the extra to clock 40 - never mind.

Recorded over 100 for the month - first time that I've done that for all 12 months of the year, and 13 consecutive.

Those 6 sessions made up 209 for the year - another best. The 6, added to 1 last week made 7 days running on the trot, I can't remember the last time I did that; but I didn't run on Christmas day. I think I've only ever done that once.

And finally, 3 short of 1700 for the year.

Cool Running

This weekend turned out to be a great weekend, as far as running goes, despite the really cold weather. In fact, with no goal until VLM in April 2011 a really good week. Just over 30 miles in 4 running days. The highlights being a 10m midweek run in the rain, yesterdays first parkrun and a 15 mile for no reason run today.

Still have a cold - its not too bad now, mostly in the head - should be gone in time for Christmas.

Edging towards the 100 mark for December - This will be the first year of 100+ in all months of the same year. the revised target of 1700 is just about on too. We'll see how many I get in between Christmas and new year.

I had registered for parkrun a couple of months ago and every opportunity to run one seem to be missed; so, another chance yesterday to run at Grovelands Park, Enfield; some 2 miles from Gemma's uni' campus was an opportunity that was not going to be missed this time. Arrived at about 8.15 for a 9am start but couldn't find anyone. I didn't realise that they turn up at about 8.45. With little to set up we were gathered at the start for 9. As it was really cold it was announced that the timing would not be in operation today - damn!! so no official first-run then. Not to worry about 30 or so people braved the cold and we all had a good run round. I clocked 21:43 for the 5k - I'm sure I can do much better than that but it did seem flat out. it is an undulating course and the incline is made worse by the 3 times you encounter it. At the finish there was a Lucozade rep handing out free samples. Today was his last day of the year and so as I was walking back to the car he was at the back of his van handing out boxes of gels, recovery and powdered drinks; more than enough to get me through to April for London.

Today's route was made up of parts of others, some on and some off-road. It was very cold -3 at the start and it took a long while to warm up. Whilst it was not considered to be windy the breeze would remind me how cold one can soon get when changing direction and the wind, say, catches the sweat on your back. 15 good miles though, slow start but ran consistently. 3 consecutive miles within 1 second and the fastest 2 at the end. For a run with no real purpose it was a really good training session.

Of course - all running is good!!

Too Cold To Run

Not temperature wise as it would appear to be summer like weather at the moment with the outside temperature soaring to 5 Celsius. No, I have come down with a cold, more commonly termed as man-flu. So I didn't run on Friday as i felt quite bad. A little 3m jog with the dog on Saturday was tough going; although he had to have some exercise as we went to Rochester for the day and he was left along for most of the day. Spent most of Saturday evening on the sofa in a sleeping back freezing my wotsits off !!. Once I'd had a bowl of porridge at about 9 I was too hot. Went to bed at 11 and slept the night through - woke up this morning and decided there would be no running today. There are not many times in the 16 or so years running that I have missed running because of a cold; maybe I'm getting old (or perhaps wise)

We had a nice day in Rochester yesterday, a Dickensian market in the castle grounds, and a walk around the city itself, whilst it was not too cold I could not get warm myself.

Last weeks cancelled Luton was a bit of a disappointment to say the least. After 12 weeks or so training for a marathon and then have it cancelled at the last minute is a bit gutting. Whilst it is easy to say that there is a good base for VLM next year, not having run a 20 for a few weeks now good training seems to be fading fast. I had planned to run a long one today. Never mind.

I was looking at the half-marathon at Wicksteed Park on January 1st. Notably starting at 11:11, 01/01/11 - I should enter it really as it will give me a goal and kick-start good training again.

Got a mention on the Marathon Talk podcast. Responded to their email via facebook to comment on what we would be doing as the marathon was cancelled.

2010 Shakespeare Marathon

 Not the best day out, I knew for about 16 that it was going to be a tough one. The Greenway was so hot.

Event website
Official result