February 2015

[marathondan]

The plan called for 7.5 miles tempo this morning, so the alarm was set for 5.15. As you know, I log all of my runs in a spreadsheet, and this also includes a record of which shoes I wear. As I was logging my last couple of runs, the spreadsheet showed me that I'd clocked up 507 miles in my current pair. A light flashed and the spreadsheet played a little tune (not really). But the 500 mile barrier had been reached, so it was time to retire them. They are veterans of the 2012 London marathon, and have lasted this long because I've gone two intervening years without a marathon. But it looks like Sunday's sludge-fest, when they came back coated in about half an inch of mud, will be their last outing.

With overnight rain forecast, and the temperature positively positive, I didn't fancy another skating session round the field trying to attain a decent pace. So with a brand new pair of cushioned shoes available, it seemed like a road session was in order. Hard, hard work. 7+ miles is a long way to keep pushing the pace, especially at 5.30 in the morning. But it's in the bank. Again, it feels like the serious stuff is only just beginning.

So the new shoes have their first mud spots on them. They will be the pair to carry me down the Mall on April 26th. But they still have over 200 miles to cover before we reach the start line.

The Occasional A-Z Of Uptempo Albums I Happen To Have On My Low Capacity Mp3 Player has now progressed as follows:

Appetite for Destruction
Americana
And Justice for All
Bat Out of Hell (strong ballad filtering required)
Conspiracy of One
Deepest Purple