Some good news today. I think.
One of my planned 2003 half marathons was to be Bath in March. It’s become one of those halfs that everyone wants to run. Even people who don’t want to run it, want to run it. It’s the Glyndebourne of half marathons.
Which is why it sells out so quickly, and why I missed the cut.
And then today, while poking around under the sink in a dark corner of the Runners World magazine website, I came across an ad offering 100 first-come-first-served places. Gulp. Despite the trembling fingers, I got one.
That was the good news. The bad news is that it’s on March 16th, a week after Reading. Which is a week after Silverstone. Three half marathons in three weeks.
At least this gives me something interesting to aim for. And who knows? It might be a dry run for later in the year when, on FIVE successive Sundays are half marathons I’d like to run. Starting on August 31st with Budapest, then Glasgow, Lake Vyrnwy (Wales), the Great North Run (Newcastle) and Bristol. That might be an interesting target. But let’s see how we go with the more sedate Silverstone, Reading and Bath first.
Working from home today gave me the chance to go for another good walk at lunchtime. I walked the staple 3.67 mile route that I ran so often (sometimes in multiples) when training for Chicago. The non-canal one. This time of year isn’t very beautiful. Apart from the berries on the holly hedges, I saw little of interest beyond the contents of my soul. Even that was pretty dull, frankly.
Everything flat and dormant and bare. But after 7 weeks of total idleness, I’ve at least got out of the armchair and taken the first few steps along this new adventure.
2003 will be a half marathon year, with no marathons till 2004 at the earliest. Originally I thought I’d try to run 20 half marathons in 2003. And I still might, but it seems like a pretty arbitrary, and therefore pointless, target, and one that puts unnecessary pressure on me. The revised plan is just to run some races that look interesting, and hope that I avoid injury, and improve my performances. That may amount to 6 races or 26. Let’s see.
