Or, bugger me, that's less than a month to go...
The big event seems to have snuck up rather alarmingly. Whilst my attention has been diverted with matters such as pounding round the training miles, impending unemployment, booking holidays and making a valiant attempt at the company record for most hours in a week spent in the deli bar, that number on the countdown has got very small. Scarily small.
I suppose the fact that in recent weeks my vest has arrived from Marie Curie, my registration instructions and number (4018) have been dispatched and I've started the process of booking a hotel should have alerted me to the impending arrival of the need to actually DO this thing rather than just talk about it. It's all been a bit conceptual so far, but I'm starting to get a little bit excited. And nervous. Actually that's not true, I've always been a little bit nervous. Except when I've been very nervous.
This has been the last cutback week, and I've ended up doing even less than the modest amount the Programme wanted. A gentle 4 mile recovery on Monday after the Alloa half and a rain-infested 8.5 on Wednesday was it - needed to sort out paperwork on Thursday lunchtime, and was feeling the beginnings of a cold.
Despite it being cutback, I'd added a 20 miler today to cover for one of those I missed through injury / illness. Learning from last time, I ran FROM Home to Dalmuir, thus taking the dreaded uphill finish out of the equation. I also decided that I needed to do one longer run at a slightly higher pace than last time, so I settled on 30 seconds slower than the "target pace" I ran at Alloa - 8 minute 20 second miles. And I stuck almost exactly to it. The pace on the Garmin barely varied 2 seconds each way all run. Metronomic.
As is the way with the Scottish spring, weather conditions were officially "mixed". Seasons swapping every 15 minutes. This meant I had to don one of my windproof base layers to combat a strong cold wind. It has been some time since I wore said garment, and several lbs have been lost in the intervening period. This has turned it from "snug" to "loose and chafing". God, my nips hurt.
And another thing. Cyclists. Twice today groups came the other way and refused to go single file, forcing me off the SHARED pathway and into the trees. Arrogant, ignorant bastards.
Anyway enough ranting. A positive. If you look at the JustGiving widget on the left, you'll see 100%. Just come off the phone to my Mum and the pledges she'd had from folks at church have got me over the £1000. In the midst of all the fun, there was also a serious point to this.
So THANK YOU, again, to everyone who's donated to Marie Curie Cancer Care and, today, to the good people of St. Peter & St. Paul's Parish Church in Stokesley.
Music. Only 4 to go, and I was tempted to abandon the playlist rules and just stuff on what I liked. But I came across a YouTube clip that actually combines two playlist songs in one. A Dustland Fairytale by The Killers with a bit of Can't Help Falling in Love grafted on the end. Nice.
Week's Summary: 3 runs, 32 miles: Long run, 19.7 miles
Miles since acceptance: 631 (1015km)
