Week Four and all is well

Well folks here goes nothing!

I have been an occasional reader of other peoples blog's for sometime now, in the main i have found them a fascinating insight into the life's of others. (Maybe I need to get out more?)

The driver for me to start a blog has been securing an entry into this year's Virgin London Marathon. The opportunity came out of the blue with a random email from company HQ, saying that they had one place left and that it was first come first served. Well i was first and i got the place.
That was the easy bit, come the New Year and the training started in earnest.

Now just into Week 4 of my 12 week Marathon Training Plan, I can honestly say that i have never done so many miles, unfortunately most have been racked up by pounding the Tarmac, oh well everything has an upside and I have to say that I am feeling fitter, I can certainly run further and faster than I could previously.

Highlights so far have been a 12 mile "Steady" training run, the programme said 12 miles in under 2 hours. Nice and easy I thought, until my Brother in Law (Hughjarse) to everyone who knows him said he would come along for the run! Alarm bells rang when after ony a couple of miles we were already running at a pace which was faster than i could sustain! Anyway 12 miles on the flat, cracked of in 1.38 a good start!

The following weekend and i'm doing something completely different to the 12 mile Road Run.... A 22 mile off road challenge event with 4,000ft of climb involved! Great this is more like it! Did this one last year and thoroughly enjoyed it, so was looking forward to this years event.

Up early Saturday morning, running by 8.00 am and off to a good start, feeling good. I tucked in with a group of runners from KCAC and found that i could keep pace with them pretty well, that is until it started to go uphill! Ah well all good things come to an end and at 15 miles the elastic snapped and they disappeared into the distance. Not to worry, keep at it, I knew the route and also knew that if i kept up a pace i would beat last years time by a considerable margin.

Coming into the finish and it was all i could do to keep running, anyway, finish I did and knocked 47 minutes of last years time. Chuffed to bits, but so knackered I couldn't eat the post race Pie and Peas!