February Fighting Fit?

[El Gordo]

Great effort both of you.

That's undeserved for me.

As for Sweder's note -- I'll be getting out more than twice a week. Have had two short runs in the last two days, though their main use was to tell me just how much difference a couple of weeks off makes. I was knackered, and even had to walk for some of the 4th and final mile of yesterday's effort.

As mentioned, we have 9 weeks which (if it stays uninterrupted) should be enough for me to claw back to where I was. I still have high hopes of getting round without killing myself. The disappointment is that my training was going so well pre-Christmas that I was telling myself all sorts of silly things about how I would do in the race. That said, I have 2 consolations -- 1) Because the training did start off well for the month or two before Xmas, I do at least have a base. I've managed about 5 or 6 double-digit runs, so I have something under my belt. And 2) The two gaps that have hampered me were largely beyond my control. I'd have felt gloomier if I'd just lost interest for a while, which is what's happened in the past.

Tonight I'm back to the gym to run some intervals. Tomorrow some general cross training and Wednesday I'm having a go at a 7 or 8 mile tempo-ish run. Then an attempted long run at the weekend. By then, I'll have a good idea of where I am.

I've given myself a target, and have entered the Finchley 20 on March 15. That gives me 4 weeks to work up to 20. If I can do that I'll be happy.