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.
Giving In To Temptation
by Russell Turner - 09:27 on 28 July 2023
Last year’s Yorkshire Marathon was my final one, I swore, after another unsuccessful battle with the dreaded Dunnington spur, so I settled for the Yorkshire 10 Miles as my target for the annual autumn return to God’s Own Country. Landing a Royal Parks Half Marathon place the week before confirmed my decision.
Despite all that, with barely 11 weeks to go, yesterday I gave in to temptation and upgraded my 10 Miles place to the full Marathon. I may live to regret the impulse, but it’s the 10th anniversary of the race and doing the 10-miler feels like an anticlimactic end to the race year.
Blame the Race to the Stones training, which proved I can run 30k and 45k in successive weekends.
To prepare myself for the unexpected distance, I’ve added a few miles to the RP training plan long runs and given myself a longest long run of 16 miles four weeks before the marathon. The schedule begins on Monday, and ends the first week with the York 10k, which nicely bookends the plan. My aim is to do what I intended last year: to take it easy all the way, aided by a pacer (most likely the 5:15 one), and finish with a smile rather than a grimace. We’ll see. Another reason for doing the marathon this year is because I’ve committed to the Oxford HM next year on the same day.
Also confirmed for 2024 is a return to the Race to the Stones – another race I swore I’d never repeat. However, mistakes are to be learned from; I made many in this year’s ultra effort so I’ll be much better prepared. The finish line B&B has been rebooked, the search is on for the perfect ultra backpack for someone my size, and the 20-week training plan has been inked into my digital diary. Scarily, it begins on Friday February 16 – February!
This year’s race was only three weeks ago, yet the training plan begins in less than seven months, the Friday-Thursday week designed to avoid gigs and long runs clashing. There’s also a blank week between weeks 9 and 10 so I can slip in the virtual London Marathon and keep my medal streak going. I’ve no other marathons more than faintly pencilled in so it has to be done.
Which other 2024 races I’ll take part in remains to be seen – I’ve still got hopes of that Paris Olympics mass participation marathon place – but after almost six years my enthusiasm seems to be holding. Who’d have thought it?
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