Virgin London Marathon | fairweatherrunner

The nice thing about marathon training is ‘having’ to get another pair of shoes so that I have two pairs to alternate and don’t get to marathon day and find my only wearable pair of running shoes are worn out. When I noticed one of my current pairs, which I rotate for road running, was falling apart I took the opportunity of the Sales to get some new ones. (Yes, I know I’ve got many other pairs in the hallway – but only this model is right at the moment. As many of you will understand!)

I’ve worn them for short walks and cycling to wear them in this week but needed a suitable opportunity to run in them for the first time. My midweek runs are beginning to increase in distance to make sure I get the miles in because I’m using BMF classes for 2 or 3 of my ‘runs’ each week. BMF is great for leg strength (with all those squats lunges and burpees etc) and for getting in some flat-out sprints and fast paced short runs but the overall miles covered (about 3 miles a class on average) doesn’t give me excessive time on my feet in the marathon bank.

So today I bravely went for an 8 mile run in my new shoes, They were absolutely fine. They just felt a bit more cushioned and springy (can’t be a bad thing) but otherwise similar to my old pair which are pretty much the same model.

What I was worried about was forgetting to pick up my water bottle on the way out. I needn’t have worried because plenty fell from the sky! (and the water fountains worked.) At least running in the rain made me run at a good constant pace without really noticing. I am now asking very nicely of the weather gods, if they have any significant weather in mind for marathon day please can it be rain and not a heat wave!

Janathon day 16 8.21 miles run.

Well somebody is pleased to have a new fleece!

I entered the London Marathon ballot on a whim not expecting to get a place and being a little worried recently what I’d do if I actually did get a place! Fortunately today I got the ‘Dear John’ response and the commiseration fleece so no worries there.

I was actually disappointed for a few hours this afternoon, especially getting caught up in the hype and excitement on twitter when a few people heard earlier on that they had places. I even researched other possible marathons in 2012 such as the new Milton Keynes Marathon.

However common sense has set in, having asked myself, ‘Do you really want to run 26.2 miles next spring?’ Erm.. Not really! I’m not even half marathon fit at the moment after injury! All sorted. I am going to concentrate on rebuilding my fitness and set myself a few goals to improve my 5K, 10K and HM times by running a few more of these races in 2012.

I always did say that I would run a marathon when I was very very old and therefore could have the excuse of stopping for a cuppa tea en route!