On Reaching 40

Week Six of my marathon training programme is over and that’s the best thing I can say about it. It was not a  vintage week, with one horrific run and no really good sessions to make me feel I’m working hard. I am working hard though. To prove it, here are the numbers:

Tuesday: 7 miles
Wednesday: 6 hellish miles
Thursday: 7 miles (intervals)
Friday: 3 miles
Saturday: 4.5 miles
Sunday: 13.1 miles

Total: 40.5 miles

It’s all about the 0.5. Actually, I jogged about a mile home after my long run on Sunday, so it’s probably all about the extra 1.5. I had planned out a perfect 13.1 mile route, ending at the corner shop near my flat so that I could buy a lucozade sport and limp the few yards home. Of course I then forgot all about the plan and just ran my regular 10 mile route on autopilot, only waking up to my mistake an hour later. I added on an extra loop of Regent’s Park, but got carried away.

The extra Park loop was lovely. The sun was out, the crocus were croaking (thanks, Dad), and I saw my first blossom. I also got shat on by a bird, but them’s the breaks.