The end of another year......

Well, I'm sitting writing this with a glass of wine in front of the log burner with the two dogs asleep by my feet. To be honest I can't think of a better way to see the New Year in !

This year has been quite a year, in total I have run 1,092 miles lots of them off road in all sorts of conditions. At the start of the year we had snow and ice.. And the end of the year mud and rain ! There have been lots of beautiful sunrises, sunsets and gorgeous runs over the South Downs.

I think that I'm really lucky to live where I do and get out and take advantage of it. I don't ever want to turn round one day when I can't run any more and wish that I had tried; I want to turn round and remember what it felt like even in the mud and rain, it just makes to u feel so alive !

This year I have qualified as a Run Leader and I'm well on the way to become a fully qualified endurance running coach, something I would have never thought possible a few years ago.

So, as one year end and another begins I think it is fair to say that none of us knows what tomorrow holds, all we can do is live life to the full today :)

It has started....

Marathon training that is..... Ok, so this week hasn't been brilliant; trying to fit runs in the week before Christmas never looked easy but I will have done most of them and at the moment the mileage is no different to the amount I've been doing for the last few months, it is after Christmas it increases.......

This is always a reflective time of year as one draws to a close and another is about to start.

One thing I have learnt is that you will never really know what life will throw at you but for me running helps keep me sane. It is my therapy.

As I sit here listening to the wind and rain outside I know this afternoons run will be very muddy and a bit tough in places (the running in to the wind places) but I also know how exhilarating that feels.... You may not be able to see far on the top of the Downs some days but I do know the routes I run very well now so the chances of getting lost in bad weather are quite low.

In theory today is my last day of work before Christmas, I then have a week off. I still have Christmas shopping to do and loads to sort out at home before people come and stay so I'm sure I will be busy. I'm also arranging a club run for Christmas Day so I need to get that sorted.

Then, if I have a spare half day I have all the work it need to do for my Cirf course. I had the last weekends training last weekend so now I need to knuckle down and get the coaching diary written up and the sessions planned for the next few months so that I can get my assessment booked for the first half of the year. Oh, and did I mention that I'm away again in January ? The best part of a week in London speaking at Europes largest annual photographic convention.... and I still have my presentations to finish...

Best get on with it all and hope you all have a wonderful Christmas x

A real milestone....

Today a group of the runners from the group that I started just after Easter took part in the Worthing Running Sisters Christmas Cracker run. This is great because they have a 5k and 10k run at the same time so the slightly more adventurous in the group could run the 10k :)

Our first ever group member Judy ran the 10k, she was the only one in the group to do this so I ran with her the whole way talking gibberish half the way round with Judy trying so hard she couldn't always reply ! This is a massive achievement for someone who couldn't run at Easter this year to complete her first 10k in just over an hour, especially as the first half was running in to wind. I must admit I'm so proud of all our runners, turning up, giving it a go and they all made it to the finish :) There was the incentive of mince pies.....

I have just finished putting my marathon training plan in to my calendar on Garmin Connect; it looks like a lot of running... I haven't totalled it up yet so I'm not sure how many miles I will do, I may leave that as a nice surprise :)

I do have a target this year. Based on my half marathon time in theory I *should* be able to achieve a 4:03 marathon time but to be honest I do feel that is a bit optimistic so I'm aiming for 4:15 to 4:30 which based on past performance should be achievable. All I need to do is the training, especially the mid week pace runs which historically is something I'm quite bad at doing. Looks like I will have to program my Garmin to nag me !

I must admit it is a bit scary actually admitting what I want to achieve. It isn't something I do that often but I do have this hidden ambition to run a sub 4hr marathon, maybe not next year but hopefully sometime soon after that :)