Over the last four weeks, when I should have been putting in my long runs, I managed to run distances as follows ...

On Sunday 25th March I ran the Cranleigh 15 and 21, with the thought of trying to run the 21 mile race this year at 7 minutes 20 seconds per mile, just to see if I could do this. I went off too quickly (as usual), and after three miles I had to slow down the pace, as I was too far ahead of my intended pace. I went through the half marathon point in 1 hour 36 minutes exactly, which puts me right on my intended pace, but at the time I was fairly tired, and thought that there would be no way that I could run on at that pace for too far. With 15 miles approaching, we were running up a hill, and I felt my right calf tighten. I set off for about 10 seconds on the extra loop to run the 21 mile race, but I could still feel my calf, so I thought better of it and finished the 15 mile race. I don't know what my time was, but this doesn't matter anyway, because I'm pretty sure I know the sort of pace I was doing.

After Cranleigh, last week, I managed to do a good running session on Tuesday evening, but apart from that I could feel pains and niggles in various parts of my legs I won't bore you with, but I managed to run a slow 5 miles on Friday, and then I ran 16 miles with the Reigate Priory AC people on Sunday, which has really boosted my confidence. I finished the run without problems, so I'm rather hopeful now this year of beating my PB and hopefully 3:30 too. Time will tell. Unfortunately during the run on Sunday I fell over, and cut my right knee, but I just carried on, and it didn't seem to effect my running at all.