Prior to the Wokingham Half Marathon I managed to run 10 miles, but I could feel my foot hurt after 8 miles, and my foot was also painful on the day after my run too, so I elected not to run Wokingham, which is a shame, but I felt that it was the right thing to do given the circumstances.

Two weeks ago, on the Monday after Wokingham, I managed to run 10 miles without pain, which was very good news. I felt that at least I wa up to the 10 mile mark in training, which really was the minimum I should be capable of at that time I think.

Last Sunday I managed to run 11.5 miles, and I ran the first 10 miles in 1 hour 20 minutes exactly, which I am pleased with. It was a difficult run in some ways though - in the first few miles I had quite bad back ache, I felt a pain in my right foot after 6 miles, which was a sharp pain in the usual place but didn't last long, and I also felt a dull pain in the foot between 8 and nine miles which was more sustained, so I'm still feeling rather delicate. Hopefully I'll be able to run 13 miles this weekend.

I ran down at the running track on Tuesday night, and again the back pain came on. I think that this pain is probably to do with the pace that I run, as when I go for a gentle run, I don't feel the pain. I was rather slow on Tuesday too, and I don't expect to do a particularly fast marathon this year after all of these troubles I've had since before Christmas.

Bearing in mind that I managed to run a hilly 10 miles in 1 hour 20 minutes on Sunday, I'm contemplating trying to run the marathon in 8 minute 30 second miles, which will make me finish in 3 hours 42 minutes I think.

In the coming weeks, I'm hoping that my body allows me to push the long runs out to say 17 or 18 miles. There is a possibility that I'll run the Cranleigh 15 and 21 on 16th March.