It was a really nice day and quite sunny, as my beetroot red sunburnt face will testify. I have been so used to running in cold and rain that the Taunton Half Marathon was the first time I've run in hot weather over any big distance.
I did it alongside running mate, FB Running Clubber and general marathon guru Dave Tilley, who has been a constant source of support, inspiration and sound advice throughout this process, so I was really grateful to him for suggesting this run.
It was probably the smallest running event of its kind I've ever done, to the extent that we were running along the road with the traffic for most of it, which was a little distracting.
But it was also quite hilly and undulating. That combined with the heat took a fair bit out of my Bath Half time of 2hrs 17 as I finished Taunton in 2hrs 25.
I was a little disappointed at first but it was a pretty steady 11 minute mile pace, which is not bad at my level and, as I've pointed out, it was hilly.
In any case it was a good training run to get under my belt and I was down to do 130 mins in any case this weekend.
Some fantastic scenery on the way round as well, looking even more beautiful in the early spring sunshine.
The weirdest thing was just treating something like that as a training run considering just over six months ago I had to pull out of the Bristol half marathon half way because I wasn't able to run it.
As Fatboy Slim might say, (if he didn't just sample old Northern Soul tunes) we've come a long long way baby.
I also got all the info through that I need for the marathon from the British Heart Foundation, which includes my fetching Heart Runners top and all my official number. It's really real now I guess.
I had rather optimistically put myself down for a medium size running top when I applied last year, but when I tried it on I had to admit it was still a bit tight and considering I still have man boobs even after losing five stone, it was just the wrong side of indecent. Those running tops are always smaller than they say anyway aren't they?
I have also been looking ahead to what to do after the marathon and have applied for the Bristol Half Marathon 2010, in September.
As I mentioned, I may have lost five stone but it was from a long way up the fat scale, so it's not like I'm ready to give Russell Brand a skinny jeans wearing competition any time soon and I still have more to lose.
Ideally I think getting down to 12 stone would be about right, and I don't want to just finish the marathon and start to blow up like Vanessa Feltz locked in a cake shop. So I will be in training for Bristol as soon as I am over London and hope to post a personal best after a summer of training.
And I'd really like to think about doing the New York Marathon one day too, how cool would that be, I'm sure Amy would love the sight seeing and shopping as well.
Hmmmm, there's an idea....
3 comments:
Have you read What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Marukami? It's very good. He runs the NY marathon in that and it sounds fab - though Central Park is surprisingly hilly apparently. You should definitely do it though. And read the book too - good inspiration!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Talk-About-When-Running/dp/1846552206
Hi Simon, you have every reason to be happy with your performance, we ran comfortably at the speed of chat on an undulating course, and with the hard work you have put in you can be as confident as anyone for London. I think the distance you have covered physically and mentally this very harsh Winter is a fantastic achievement, do a couple of runs just to keep ticking over for the next week and the Pearly Kings and Queens will salute you as you run on by!! Gawd bless yer!!
Good luck wonderful story and very funny in just the right doses!
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