I now seem to be committed to the Milton Keynes half marathon. On Saturday I spoke to Jae and asked her if she was going, She said she would if I did. So we both agreed to enrol.
What made me think I could do it. I started with the parkrun 5k, which I have now run over 100 times. Two years ago I decded to run the Worcester 10k with my son, and have now run it twice. It didn’t seem such a big step forward, just twice what I was used to running: six miles instead of 3. I ran a couple of six miles routes to train. What I did find is that my legs were incredibly stiff after the run.
A half marathon, 13.1 miles. is a long step further and I am not sure if my legs will hold out. But I have started a more methodical preparation. I no longer think of a run in terms of miles, but in terms of time spent: half an hour for 5k, an hour for 10k and 2 plus hours for 21k. It makes it easier to judge how I will hold out.
My second element of preparation was to buy a book on running: ‘Five New rules of Running,’ by Vijay Vad. More of that later.
My third element is to measure out the mileage of particular training routes. I have a 9 mile route planned, which I walked out last week, and which I am going to run this coming week. If I can complete that, I should be able to complete the course on the day.