Written by Phil Cairns
So my fellow ballot-winner Babs had a brush with fame this week, did she? Well, not that I’m competitive or anything. But two can play that game…
I volunteered at Acton Junior Park Run on Sunday. At the end, our West 4-affiliated run director said, “Are you doing our race?” and shoved a flyer for Thames Towpath 10 into my hand.
“Err, not sure yet…” I got halfway through saying before something on said flyer caught my eye.
Hang on, who’s that chap with the pained expression?
First time I’ve been a poster boy. For anything. And not even consulted. Do we have any image rights lawyers in the club? Perhaps a class action lawsuit as the image is comprised half of Eagles!
So. Shit is getting serious. This Sunday will be 8 weeks to London Marathon day. And this is blog post 4. So I’m officially at the midpoint. I paid my entry fee and registered for my place at the Marathon last week. I also entered Riverside 20 on March 23 as a tune-up race. (Anyone else doing this? I’ve set up a Facebook event, so make yourself known if so). I’ve never done a 20-mile race before, so at least I’ll have the satisfaction of one PB this year.
Training is still going steadily, albeit I probably need to be doing more tempo runs. I did my first 20-mile training run last weekend. I figure that’s probably the hardest run I’ll do in this training cycle as it’s the furthest I’ve run in 18 months, and my other 20-miler will be Riverside 20. So at least I’ll already have that distance under my belt, and I think it’ll feel easier doing it in a race environment with other runners, even if I am pushing myself harder. Running 20 miles on your own is just never not a slog…
Onwards. And hopefully upwards.