My Forum

I used to be a big boy. At my heaviest I tipped the scales at 15 stones - thankfully no photos exist.

I was about 14 stones when I ran my slowest half marathon (2006 St Albans Half - 2:11:07) This prompted me to start taking running a bit more seriously as a way to lose weight. I ran the 2007 London Marathon in 4:58:09 and after that the running bug bit deep. Through a mixture of diet and exercise the weight started to drop off. The more I got into running the more I began to eat healthier, the less weight I carried, the easier the running became and so on and so on. The weight eventually dropped to 9st 6lbs & to others I looked ill. Eventually the muscle mass built up and the weight settled at 10st 6lbs. In the meantime, PBs fell at all distances & I just ran VLM in 2:54:22 

An inauspicious weekend ahead for me whereby I get to indulge in some of my favourite things, namely running, Italian food, & football. Add to that the small fact that it's my birthday on Sunday and, in the words of Baldrick, I devised a cunning plan (as cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University...)

At my suggestion, my better half is 'treating' me to a weekend in Frome (woohoo) where I get to watch Bristol Rovers play a pre-season friendly against Frome Town, have a meal in an Italian restaurant, stay in a nice hotel overnight, then, on my birthday, I get to race in the 'heavily undulating' inaugral Frome Half Marathon...

You've got to admit, it is a cunning plan...

Second week of my Snowdonia training schedule & got my first real quality session in last night. (the 5 races that I did last week as part of Week 1 were all about putting in the efforts night after night) However, last nights, albeit flat(ish) 1.5 mile jog / x3 2miles @ 6:00/mi with 0.5 mile recoveries / 1.5 mile jog was a blinder & not far off my 10mile PB.

Unfortunately, after a heavy summer racing schedule, I know that the turn of speed I have at the moment will slowly disappear as short/fast sessions begin to give way to longer, slower, hillier, training runs...

Only a couple of small runs for me this week. I did a slow 5K in Rome on Wednesday, just to make sure that nothing was too damaged, then, after flying home on Thursday, I put in a slightly quicker 5K on the Friday morning... Then, this morning, I ran probably the toughest Hilly Half Marathon of my life - 2442ft of ascent & just a tad more on the descent! So on top of cobble-mashed marathon legs I decided to trash my hamstrings on the way up & my quads on the way down!! Way to go you muppet!!

Wasit worth it? Yeah, I think so. I finished 11th over all (10th bloke), first home for ny Club, and, most importantly, secured the 10 points I needed to bag first place in the MV40 category of our Club competition! Yay!

Two days of non-running now, although I will go for a light swim this evening & a light cycle tomorrow, then nothing more than a slow 10K on Weds, Thurs, & Friday, rest day on Saturday, then a trail Half Marathon in the Forest of Dean on Sunday... Help - I'm addicted!

We got home at about 7pm yesterday - BOO!!!! Shame my lottery numbers didn't come up as I'd have quite happily stayed there. Apart from the fact that I managed to come down with a bad cold on the Tuesday & was desperately trying to fight it off for the rest of the week... Not too bad now though, although the asthma is starting to play up now...

My official time was 03:00:30 (putting both me & EE on the MArathon Talk podium) BUT I'm glad to see that I'm not the only person whose Garmin says that the course was long..!!! According to mine I ran nearly1/4 of a mile over! Now, I can accept that I wouldn't have stuck to the racing line throughout the entire race, but I struggle to understand how I could have run that far - even if I took every bend as wide as possible... Hmm, very strange, especially as my Garmin tells me that I ran at 6:48/mi pace which would have given me a 2:58:17 finishing time... Oh well, just have to concentrate on running sub-3hrs next year - it won't be this year as my next marathon is Snowdonia and, with all the will in the world, I will struggle to go at a good pace in those hills.

1T - The football was amazing; probably one of the most lasting memories of the holiday in fact. Standing in the Curva when the whole place was singing 'Roma Roma Roma' was truly awesome...

Anyway, absolutely lovely to meet you all, especially whilst swimming in post race Guinness! Anybody fancy a pop at the Firenze Marathon in 2014?