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Thanks Neil. Interested in doing this race (just got back into running after having my first baby in January!). Not sure how to register though. I did fill out an enquiry form at the above link, but not had a reply...

Is there an online registration?

Thanks ET7. Well I've just signed up for the Stockport 10 in December, so that'll be a nice goal to work towards. 10 mile to half marathon races are my favourites - just the right distance - and this is one I've always wanted to do but I've always missed it somehow. And then after that I think I'll just take it as it comes - maybe go for a spring HM (I often do Wilmslow if I'm in running mode at the time...), but as you say not put pressure on myself.

That is... unless I get into the VLM in the ballot (which I found myself entering again in a daze last April before my morning coffee had kicked sense into me).

PS I love this forum (more than the RW magazine)

Lee, I saw your post and I just had to reply. It sounds like you're used to running like I used to (i.e. pretty much all out on every training session), and I came a cropper on my first marathon attempt (Berlin 2007) and never made it to the start line because I injured myself by overdoing it...  I was absolutely convinced that it was a case of increasing my speed and distance over every run I did. It sounds like you already know that's wrong, but there's still a nagging doubt somewhere that the LSRs are just TOO slow. Believe me, they're not. I did my long slow runs for my first (and possibly only?) marathon this year at 90 sec/min slower than my goal race pace and I really felt that was just right. I no longer felt burnt out and I made it through an injury I sustained in a hilly 10-miler a few months before.

I used the RW plans and totally agree with i-Plodder too - no matter how confident you are you can stick to them, build in a bit of flexibility for if and when things don't quite go to plan. It happens to all of us, in spite of the best of intentions. I'd done a few half marathons before, but the marathon is a different beast and throws up all kinds of surprises along the way!

Do you have to be a regular runner?

......................

It's not being lazy, it's just another way of being. There is no hard and fast rule about how much or how often you have to run. It has to be dependant on your life style and what you want out of life / running.

I love art and gardening, running takes up time that I can't use doing art or gardening, so when there is no race on the horizon I can back off the running and do other things that I enjoy.

I love cooking and hiking, and spending time with my friends and family, and I'm also doing a Masters on top of working full time in a fairly demanding job, so perhaps I am being a bit hard on myself. Then again, I hate being unfit and running does make me calmer and less stressed, and I really enjoy running when I run regularly. When you say "back off the running", do you stop completely, or do you just keep the running ticking over when you're not training for a race?

I think it's also that when I get a bit fed up with the RW magazine telling me what I can do in x weeks from a base level of training, when I don't have a base level of training! So once I get out of the habit, it's also harder to know at what level I can pick up training again. Either all RW mag readers train regularly all year round or the editors assume that is the case, but I find it doesn't really cater very well for intermittent types like me. (There seem to be only 2 categories: beginners or regular runners, and I don't fit into either camp, being a slightly more experienced runner, but [cough] not a regular one!) 

Thanks Soup Dragon, I have thought about it because the variety really appeals to me... The only problem is if truth be told I'm pretty rubbish at both cycling and swimming and I'm also not very keen on either!

Running is one of the few forms of exercise I've ever been remotely good at and really enjoyed. It makes me feel really good when I'm doing it, but at some point life just seems to take over and I lose the habit for a while...