I kept that up for a week and then I started back running again once the Achilles had eased a little, this was in effect the start of half marathon training. I haven't done a half marathon for around 25 years, that was when I was a soldier, that run was in Ripon and I would say I was a lot fitter than I am today, I finished that in 1 hour 40 mins, wish i could do that now!!!
The target half marathon was the English half marathon at close by Warrington, quite a flat course and a good downhill section to speed up and improve time, I had to cram in the training, I did a 6 mile and then a 7 mile run a few days later, I then ran my furthest run since I did the Ripon run all those years ago, I managed 11.5 miles but i'd say the last mile or so I was crawling, my legs had gone, my feet were in pain but I made it home and got in a cold bath to try and recover. This run did nothing for my confidence, i'd struggled to say the least, 10 days later I was to do the half marathon and I was very nervous.
I rested during the week before and managed a quick 3 mile run to keep my legs going, on the day I turned up early, stretched, watched the parachutists fly in and then headed to the start.
Being fully aware of my injuries in the past few months I set off quite slowly, I knew there was an uphill section towards the cantilever bridge but it wasn't too long before I was at the top of the bridge and a gentle downhill bit got me into my stride, still aware of my Achilles I didn't push myself, after all this was to be my longest run for 20 odd years but I was feeling quite good, any slight stiffness in the Achilles wore off after about 1.5 miles, i'd settled into a rhythm and was keeping up with most people and overtaking a few, the only people to overtake me were the parachutists who started after us, I thought about tagging onto one of them but it was only a fleeting thought.
After about 5 miles there was water and I took some on board, the course was now in its flat stage, the route took us past where I drive my truck towards the M6, a few more miles and we hit the village of Stretton, here we turned right and went down a narrow track towards a housing estate and a good downhill section. I did my best to open my legs and ease down the hill, I wasn't aware of time, I just wanted to keep going, the course came back on itself and again we were heading towards the cantilever bridge, once over that it was flat all the way to the finish, I could hear the finish, people were walking and i'd have to dodge them to get passed, I eventually hit the edge of the park and began to see if i had anything left in my legs, I felt surprisingly good, I stretched my legs and thought the finish would come quickly, it didn't but I kept going, sprinting near the finish and I was home and dry.
I looked at my Garmin watch and was very surprised to see 2 hours and 5 minutes, I was very pleased with that, I'm classing that as my PB!!
A muddled medal table meant we had to wait before receiving our medal as they were putting them on everyone, very slow process but worth it, then on to the goody bag stall and away I went.
Tune in again for the next installment including GREAT NORTH RUN, Cheshire 10k and more injury woe.
