2006 - March

[El Gordo]

Nigel - thanks for taking the time to post that. Interesting. It's an old cliché to note that top sportspeople need great mental toughness as well as talent. Who will ever forget the Steve Davis - Denis Taylor snooker final in 1985? With both players spurning numerous chances to win the match, you saw a rare example of sportspeople at the top of their profession totally losing their nerve when it mattered.

My situation is hardly the same as theirs of course, or the golfer, though my approach is pretty similar, as you note. I have to rationalise, and say, look, I'd like to achieve this goal but come on, what's the worst that can happen? If I don't make it, then so be it. It means I'll just have to have another few days away in some European city that I've not been to before, and try again. It's not failure at all, just deferred success. Yeah, that sounds better.....

SP - re your suggestion about joining the 4:30 pacing group. I've toyed with this one before, but I'm not sure it makes sense to deliberately run at more than a minute a mile faster than you have to for the first half of the race. Doesn't this just ensure that you're more knackered than you need to be in the last half? True, you then have a cushion to try to absorb the slower progress, but I'm not sure that it's a good approach. But I really don't know for sure. I guess it will have worked for some. The normal wisdom (wasn't he a comedian...?) is simply to establish your target time, then aim for a steady pace.

To be honest, I've no idea what will happen on the day. Part of me is dispirited, for reasons I've talked about, but equally, the fact is that I did the Bramley 20 in my target pace, and if you add the extra pizzazz of a top marathon in a pretty setting, and if you take away the freezing, drizzley Hampshire conditions, then perhaps I could just chug along for another 6 miles.

We'll see. Thanks for the giving me some stuff to chew over though guys, it's much appreciated.

Andy