Happily Ever After

Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running

Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.

Caught On Camera

by Russell Turner - 17:25 on 05 May 2018

I’ve finally assembled the least worst of my MarathonFoto pics, done a little cropping on a couple of them, and saved them to Flickr. The good news is that they show me at the end looking happy rather than half dead. Maybe I should have run the last couple of miles.

I’ve also worked out my flexible training plan (new City Limits gigs will have an effect) for the Yorkshire Marathon. This begins on Wednesday with Week 6 of the London plan, the first to include the tempo runs I missed first time round because of my injury, and continues until the end of Week 13 – the 18-20-mile run. A couple of quiet weeks follow, then I return to Week 6 and repeat, adding the three-week taper which ends with The New Big Day in York.

The idea is to run slow first time around and harder the second time. Time will tell. You’ll be pleased to know that I won’t inflict on readers the same run-by-run reports I detailed on the road to London.

Approaching the finish line in London.

The ballot for London 2019 has now closed – and Matchgirl’s not in it, having confirmed that she’d rather watch than run in the capital. If I’m unlucky in the ballot this time (the odds are against me), and don’t get a Cats Protection charity place either, an alternative is the Cats’ first entry in the Paris Marathon, a couple of weeks earlier. Matchgirl perked up a lot on being told about that.

A strong run down The Mall. I passed John, who the stats tell me had started ten minutes before me.

My sponsorship total now stands at £648 (£780 including Gift Aid) after another donation and collection of sales of Tess’s book. There’s still time to contribute.

Photographic proof that I crossed the finish line.

Badger Update: The Bushnell has been out. Badgers, pine martens and hedgehogs have not. The only thing captured in grainy black and white are cats. I’ll keep trying.

Matchgirl’s post-race snap of the medal hero.

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