Here is the route as recorded by my lovely Garmin Forerunner…

13.1 miles of pain.  Actually, as the second half hurt it was more like 6 or 7 miles of pain.

Next year my time will be back under 2 hours!  Mark my words!

Related posts:

1. 2009 Reading Half Marathon
2. DOMS and a Lesson Learned
3. 2010 Bupa London 10000

My third attempt of the Reading Half Marathon certainly wasn’t my best.  I had a good first half and at the 10k mark my time seemed pretty good and I was at about the 58min mark.  However, the whole second half was much harder and I was experiencing some major tiredness in my legs and feet whilst running.  I had to stop and walk many many times during the second half and my overall finish time was more than 2 hours 16 mins!  Even worse than when I ran it for the first time.

My split times were as follows:-

5K – 00:29:20

10K – 00:58:33

15K – 01:32:26

20K – 02:08:24

When the pain was really bad I just kept focusing on getting finished.  Even if I had to walk the rest of the damn thing, I was going to finish! That is the one big positive out of all this, I finished it even though my body and brain were telling me I’d had enough.  For me it was a serious mind over matter moment.

I must admit that when I finished the run I was quite upset/disappointed with myself.  My wife was very helpful though and reminded me that I had finished the run in the first place.  That’s why everyone in the audience cheers so much, not just because they have family/friends running, but because they’re proud of all of us for doing it in the first place.  So, even though it was a “personal worst”, I’m proud of me for doing it as well.

The one big lesson out of all of this is that I need to train more.  I’ve been a bit slack lately and with a full marathon coming up in 7 weeks I just can’t afford to do that anymore.

Of course, this finish time and the pain has made me wonder how many days (kidding) it’s going to take me to finish the marathon.  The good thing about the marathon is that I don’t actually have any previous finish times to compare against in my head.  I just want to finish it… and I will.

So the main focus over the next 7 weeks is training and dropping a few pounds.  I think it was a combination of lack of training and being too heavy this time.  I need to trim down a few kilos in order to be better prepared for the full marathon.

Today I’m hobbling around and having a very hard time going up and down stairs.  My calf muscles and quads are killing me.  My quads!  Why?  Usually it is my hamstrings that are sore after running or training.

My wife was kind enough to give me a leg massage today and although it was an extremely painful experience (which I’m sure she enjoyed) it does feel a bit better.

I wonder if it’s safe to go to the gym tomorrow and do a little bit on the cross trainer…

Related posts:

1. 20 Miles of Fun
2. Woodley 10k and Injury
3. Chunky Virtual Runner dot com?

I’m trying to do two quality runs during the week (tempo and intervals) with a long run each Sunday.  Unfortunately this week I didn’t even run during the week but still managed to do 10 miles today.

I think my biggest problem is food!  Oh how I love the food… any type of food and lots of it.  Okay, not shellfish… but most food!

I’m going to have to make a conscious effort to reduce the intake of crap over the next few weeks because I’m carrying a few (I’m playing it down) extra pounds at the moment and I’m not going to do my knees or legs any favours by making them lug this heavy frame around a marathon.

The Reading Half Marathon is a week from today, and I’m very glad that I don’t have a personal goal for this one.  My only plan is to run the whole thing at the slow-ish pace I’m going to run the marathon at.  That’s about an average pace of 06:30 to 06:40 min per km.  Yeah, it’s slow but I want to take it easy as much as possible.

8 weeks until the Fredericton Marathon!  I’m thinking I will need to sort out some new running shoes before then.  I don’t think the current Asics Kayano running shoes are going to make it to then.

I’m also going to need to up my game on the long runs after Reading Half Marathon.  I’m planning on increasing my runs as follows:-

28 March – 22.5km (13.98 miles)

04 April – 23.40km (14.54 miles)

11 April – 26.00km (16.15 miles)

18 April – 28.90km (17.95 miles)

25 April – 32.18km (20.00 miles)

02 May – 16.09km (10.00 miles)

09 May – 42.19km (26.20 miles) – MARATHON DAY

Any runners out there think this is realistic?  It’s only a 10% increase each week to take me where I need to be.  I’m trying to keep it as gradual as I can and I thought 20 miles is the most I’ll need to train for in order to do the marathon.  Well, I hope it is, because it’s too late now!

Here is a summary of my runs recently:-

As for non-running related matters are concerned.  It’s Mothers Day here in the UK so my son got his mummy some lovely flowers (he chose them all by himself) and a card which he scribbled in and all over.  Terrible handwriting…

At work, things are still stressful and everyone wondering what is going to happen.  I won’t go on about it and I’ll let you know what happens on that front in a few weeks time when I actually know.

Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there and take care!

Related posts:

1. 20 Miles of Fun
2. One More Before
3. London Marathon

Related posts:

1. 2009 Reading Half Marathon

My official chip time is 01:58:27 and that is my official PB!

Related posts:

1. Cross Canada Run & Stats Update
2. Virgin London Marathon Ballot Update
3. Virgin London Marathon Site Update

Me, my fiance, my son and my daughter set out at 8:30am for Madejski Stadium and the 10:05 start of the Reading Half Marathon.

We arrived to a great atmosphere and joined the thousands of other runners and spectators there for the event.  However, I was a bit nervous (always am in situations like that) and I was getting annoyed by other runners.  They were all so rude.  Standing in the way, walking in front of us, banging people with their backpacks… I was getting run-rage…

After collecting some free Lucozade and waiting 20 mins for the toilet we set off towards the start area which was a 10 min walk from where the stadium was in Green Park.

I walked to my start area (green) and tried to find the 2 hour pace runner.  My plan was to stick to him like glue the whole way round and then when we neared the finish I would run ahead and finish in less than 2 hours.  Simple plan really.

Unfortunately things didn’t go that way.  I was hindered by slower runners!  I know.  Me.  Hinder by slower runners!  What the hell is up with that?  There were loads of runners that completely ignored the colour coded starting pen areas and started in areas where they shouldn’t have been.  I tried to keep the pace runner ahead of me so I could keep near to him, however he kept getting further ahead because loads of overzealous runners were zipping in and out and increasing the gap between me and the pace runner.  I know some of them were overzealous because I passed many of them after about the 6 mile mark.

I was also hindered by some little woman who kept elbowing me and then running in front of me.  Damn her.

Eventually I thought “screw this, I’m going to run ahead of the pace runner and stay in front of him”.  This was actually a good idea because when we got to all the downhill sections I left the pace runner in the distance and never saw him again.  That was around mile 5 on Kendrick Road.  Most people seemed to slow right down on the hills where I increased my stride and let gravity take me down.  It was much faster and is relaxing enough to allow you to catch your breath.

The hardest part again was the last 3.1 miles where you can see the stadium in the distance but it doesn’t seem to be getting any closer.  It is such a mental struggle down that road for me.  My mind is hinting that I should perhaps walk for a second and I have to stop it and repeat over and over to myself in my head “this is nothing, this is nothing, this is nothing” and I just kept on pushing.

Once I got to mile 12 I knew I would achieve my sub 2 hour goal.

My time, according to my watch, was 01:58:26 but I’ll have to wait for the official chip time to be published.  That means I ran the race at an average pace of 05:37 min/km (09:02 min/mile) which is fantastic compared to last year’s time of 02:06:15 at a pace of 05:59 min/km (09:38 min/mile).

I shaved more than 30 seconds off my average mile!  I am really happy with that.

For those of you who read this on facebook, I’ve already uploaded what photos I have.  For those of you who read this on my blog properly the photos can be found here:-

http://thevirtualrunner.org/site/photo-gallery

Related posts:

1. 2010 Reading Half Marathon
2. 2009 Bupa London 10000
3. Countdown to the Half

Phase two (running the half marathon in my existing Adidas) takes place tomorrow morning at 10:05 am.  I also have to remember that the clocks go forward at midnight tonight which means one hour of sleep lost.

I’ve check the weather for tomorrow:-

It’s going to be a bit chilly when the race starts at 4 degrees Celcius.  I’m thinking short sleeved running shirt may not be a good idea.  I recently got a new long-sleeve shirt (although a bit too big) and I think I’ll wear that tomorrow.  Either way, I’m going to be completely drenched by the time I’m done because of the excessive sweating that will take place.

Now I’m going to do something very important.  I’m going to play cars with my son…

Related posts:

1. Damn
2. Married and Honeymoon
3. Wellness Reigns

Having already decided to run the Reading Half Marathon on Sunday in my Adidas Supernova Sequence trainers, I then received a great email today.

The Sweatshop (organisers of the half marathon) sent me (and all the other runners) an email saying there was 72 hours until the half.  But, it also included the following deal:-

2 for 1 Adidas running shoes if bought from 29th March – 05th April!

It said:-  Exclusively at the Sweatshop/adidas retail marquee at the race site or any branch of Sweatshop or SheRunsHeRuns nationwide from Sunday 29th March until Sunday 5th April.
Simply print this email and bring it with you or bring your race number. Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer. Shoes must be identical in size and model.

How great is that? 

I’m now going to return the Asics Kayano that I’ve bought and I’m going to get Adidas (2 pairs) again.  Like I said, is it a sign?  Perhaps I should’ve just stuck with the Adidas anyway when they’ve been good?

As well as the 2 for 1 deal, there was also this (I quote):-

The adidas V.I.P club is hosting a hospitality suite for all it’s athletes, that’s anyone who runs in adidas shoes. All runners in the adidas V.I.P club will receive the following for FREE: A hot pasta meal, adidas goody bag and their Reading Half Marathon ‘medal’ photograph. It’s a great place to recover and relax in the warm after the race.

All you have to do is run in a pair of adidas shoes and pick up your exclusive wrist band from the adidas retail area or at the end of the finish system.

I’m liking all this.

Saturday I’m off to the Sweatshop to return the Asics.  Sunday I’m running in my Adidas.  Monday (or Tuesday) I’m off to Sweatshop again to buy 2 pairs (!) of Adidas running shoes.

For those of you who are interested in finding out more about the Reading Half Marathon, you can either visit the site by clicking here or the image above.

You can also view a pdf version of the race info pack by clicking here.

Related posts:

1. Asics Kayano
2. What you get for Kayanos
3. Phase One – Completed

I was doing some thinking last night in bed before I nodded off and I have decided that I’m going to make more of an effort this year to increase my speed on the 10k distance. I may never be the fastest runner, however I am going to try and run the 10k in less than 50 mins and be able to do that on a regular basis. The fastest time I’ve achieved (so far) on a 10k is 00:55:39 at the Bupa Great Capital Run in July 2008. Perhaps I should make it my goal to do that event in under 50 mins in July 2009?

In order to achieve this I will need to do more quality workouts (which are missing from my weekly routine a lot of the time) and have a more structured plan on what I am doing week by week.

I also want to take part in as many 10k events this year as I can. 10k isn’t a great distance to me because I regularly run that distance or more in my training runs, therefore many of the actual events will be part of the overall training throughout the year.

I may never be an “elite” runner and I’m certainly not training to compete against anyone. Actually, that’s wrong. I’m competing against myself. I’m competing against previous personal bests (PBs). I’m competing against my brain when it tells me to stay in bed or to skip a run. I’m competing against pains and niggles. I’m competing against the runners that do happen to be slower than me at event (both of them).

That’s the great thing about running; it’s personal.

Related posts:

1. 2009 Reading Half Marathon
2. Happenings & Training
3. 10k Runs Planned

I did my first 5km lap and ran to the car and got my inhaler and then I continued on.  I slowly started to feel a bit better during the run and I even started venturing off on to other paths that I’ve never been on.

This new path seemed pretty cool at first and the scenery was different (which is always good) but things slowly started to get muddy.

About 1km in to this new path I had to turn around because it was just impossible to get through without completely submerging my trainers in the mire.

I think that in the summer that extra loop path I’ve discovered (you can see part of it in the picture) won’t be so bad.

The weather this morning was great.  Skies were clear and blue and there was a frost on the grass when I started at around 7am.  By the time I had finished it was oddly warm (for the UK in March).

Now I suppose you might be wondering why this post is called “bug eater”?  No?  Well, I’ll tell you anway.

It seems that some blackflies/mosquitos (I don’t know what they were really) decided to come out in the thousands all around the lakes.  They congregated in huge clouds randomly dispersed on the route which caused walkers and runners alike to swat at the air and swerve about as they travelled.

Running in to one of these clouds wasn’t the greatest.  Firstly, my mouth was open so I reckon I’ve eaten my fair share of bugs today.  I’m not sure what the carb levels of the bugs was but they kept me going.  Secondly, I sweat A LOT when I run.  Therefore my face and neck acted as a pool of death for the insects that managed to get caught there.  I couldn’t hear their screams for help as they drowned because I had my iPod on.  If you look at the picture that I took around 10km in to my run you can just make out the dead insects on my forehead and neck.

In the end I survived my last long run before the Reading Half Marathon.  I covered 21.09km (13.10 miles) in 01 hour 59 mins 40 secs which equates to an average pace of 05:40 min/km (09:08 min/mile).  Not too bad I suppose and if I can manage that same pace on the day I will achieve my goal of a sub 2 hour time.

I hope all my effort has paid off.

Now I’m off to find an insect cook book…

Related posts:

1. Tempo Encore and a bit of History
2. I just keep running
3. 20 Miles of Fun