I think the knee problems were brought on by leaving my training until too late and then doing too many miles too soon. Both marathons I had to walk/jog from about 17 miles and came in just under 4 hours both times.
So, like a few others I have been fortunate enough to secure a place through the ballot for the London marathon in April (only 6 consecutive rejections - boy did I curse when they got rid of the guaranteed entry on number 5...) I did do London back in 2006 and did Brighton in 2010 but didn't do myself justice in either due to knee problems. Anyway, I am now injury-free and have got back into running over the last couple of months. I plan to really go all out with the training, without overdoing it of course - definitely none of my usual excuses - but I'm not really sure what sort of time I should realistically be thinking of? Last year I did the Reading half in 1:34 after about 5-6 weeks training and last week I managed a sub-21 minute 5k. Would sub 3:20 for the marathon be achievable with hard work and dedication over the winter? Could I do better still? I would say my fitness is comparable now as to what is was when I did Reading. I plan to lose a few pounds (around the middle) which hopefully will help speed me up too. I don't want to set my sights too high only to end up well off the mark. Any thoughts would be appreciated...
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Chris McClay
