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.

Four Down, Twelve To Go

by Russell Turner - 10:23 on 06 July 2022

That’s the Week 4 long run done – quarter of the training over. How did that happen?

Since the hiccup of my cold in the middle of Week 2 I’ve been able to stick to the London Marathon plan more or less and everything’s going well, even if I don’t remember it being such an effort in the past. But we only remember the easy bits, don’t we, or we’d never do it again?

Yesterday’s long run – a 105min 6:1 r/w – ended a few yards over 10 miles: my first double-figure outing since the Edinburgh Marathon debacle and my second since London Landmarks. Currently, the thought of another 16.2 miles is daunting but I know I can do it; if the training continues well I might even end strong rather than staggering across the finish line.

Although I’m still aiming for a sub-4:30 time, finishing under five hours and not in bits would be just as impressive an achievement. Or maybe I’ll treat the crowded London route as an easy warm-up for Yorkshire, two weeks later, and make that my main target. Time will tell.

Yesterday also saw me complete another virtual task. I thought I’d retired from virtual races, and in particular from virtual cumulative runs, until I was seduced by the handsome Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal. Gaining it was no challenge, as it involved completing a mere 70k (one for each year of Her Majesty’s reign) between May 5 and July 5 – I did 49k in the last seven days. So my plan is to earn the medal properly by running a 70k backyard ultra later in the year. That’s 43.5 miles, so 50 miles could be a further target if I’ve the energy left.

This would be a stepping stone to a 100k challenge, if I land a place in the Race to the Stones next year. The ballot results are announced next week. I may regret the impulse.

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