I wish I could say that training has been going well since my last post. I'm not entirely sure I can, which is a pity. I've had a few cold sores which always leave me shattered and I've been able to get out or get to the gym a few times, but it has been a real struggle.
However, I should really look on the positives of what I have achieved so far. I've now knocked about six minutes off my seven mile round trip from here to Wylam and back, down to about 1h20. It's still really too slow for a marathon pace, as 5mph (about 11min30 per mile) won't get me round very quickly at all, but it's a distance and a speed I could have only dreamed about two or three years ago. I now know and feel comfortable with the distance and, rather than going into my Great North 10k race next weekend with trepidation, I'm rather looking forward to it. I'll be slow, and be overtaken by pretty much everyone, but I know I'm going to make it.
Speaking of the Great North 10k, my runner's pack came this morning. It's quite exciting really, my first proper race. I nearly had kittens when I saw the "sweeper" car will mop up anyone who runs at less than 12 minutes per km, until I read it properly, but as a kilometre is quite a lot shorter than a mile I think I might just manage it.
The thing I've been enjoying about my running at the minute is just being outside, looking at things I'd normally tear past in the car or on the bus. I'm lucky where I live in that there are loads of lovely riverside footpaths to run along, but I'm having more fun running along the footpaths in the areas reclaimed after 100 years of heavy industry. Just down the road from me there used to be a massive coal-fired power station and a coalmine. It's such a pleasure to run round the old coal mine, the paths are quite good, the terrain is interesting and there's never anybody about. It's the same running around the site of the old power station, it's interesting to see the old and the new meeting in such a way. Even the run from here to Wylam takes me past the cottage where George Stephenson was born, there's so much history and it's really actually quite fascinating to see it up close, on foot.
Having looked on a map to see where is 26 miles from here- essentially the boundaries are Rothbury and the Durham Dales- I think I may well be seeing slightly more of this history between now and April.
There's just one last thing*: does having fish and chips for tea count as a healthy balanced diet for a run?
* I lied. The absolutely last thing is some begging for money. You can sponsor me for the Great North 10k or the London Marathon at virginmoneygiving.com/arctictroll. I'm running the Great North 10k in aid of the Children's Heart Unit Fund at the Freeman Hospital, and the London Marathon in aid of YouthNet and Age UK.
