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.