Milton Keynes Half Marathon

Sunday dawned cool and slightly overcast which looked great for a half marathon. In all the races I've run I've never ever had good conditions but Sunday was great. My only complaint would have been that it was slightly muggy by 10am.

I am so annoyed that I was unable to capitalise on the great conditions and I posted a poor time of 1 hr 58 mins 23secs which was a big disappointment to me after indicating below that I wanted to get nearer 1 hr 45 mins. The problem was that I was really tired before the race started. I've been working long hours all week before and just wasn't up for the race - nor did I give it the respect it deserved. 'It's only a half' type attitude.

I did 3 mile split times and went from 23 mins to 26 mins to 28 mins and then 29 mins which is not very good, is it? Maybe I went off too quick and just died?

The race itself was well organized and its a lovely flat and reasonably scenic route often running alongside a canal or a lake. I was just in too much pain to really notice I'm afraid and hated nearly every step.

I'll probably give it another go next year and hopefully I'll be in a better frame of mind next year. Sorry guys for being so negative but that's how it was.

Back to building up City Local, Hemel Hempstead now. Take a look please at www.citylocal.co.uk/hemelhempstead

Marathon Training Resumes - July '09

Well hello again! Yes I hold my hands up and confess - I'm useless (when it comes to maintaining my blog). Basically after my bad muscle tear in December of '07, which I sustained whilst running the Luton Marathon in atrocious conditions, I have been on a slow path to recovery. I felt like giving up completely when in Feb '08 I tore a muscle in my thigh and could hardly walk never mind run. I just didn't allow my calf muscle enough time to recover and my thigh muscle tried to cover for it ... unsuccessfully. I left it again and as my last posting indicated I developed tendonitus whilst in Turkey and then a couple of months later developed burs in my hip.

Well, as you can imagine, I was in despair and actually considered giving up running altogether. From August '08 through to Christmas '08 I hardly ran at all except for a few very light jogs but since then the first 6 months of '09 are proving to be very encouraging and I have managed to regain my fitness, build up my muscles and begin to post some good times in training.

Initially my 10k was down to 1 hour because I was so out of condition and scared to pull another muscle but I've slowly built up my confidence and last week I finally dipped back under 50 minutes for the 10k and also ran 14 miles in training, in 28 degree heat, without any adverse effects.

I am running the Milton Keynes Half Marathon next Sunday (26th July) and I promise to let you know how it goes. I'm aiming for 1:50, would be delighted with 1:47, and over the moon with 1:43!

Meanwhile my training has suffered just a wee bit because I've started a new business called CityLocal, HemelHempstead which is consuming my time and energy. Going for a run is now as much about relieving stress as it is about fitness. I am loving it though. Basically the business is about promoting small to medium sized businesses in Hemel Hempstead and providing a means for them to get a web footprint very cost effectively. If you are local Hemel business person reading this and want some help then give me a call or drop me an email. BTW the web address is http://www.citylocal.co.uk/hemelhempstead so go and take a look.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the half in MK next week. Til then - stay fit.