It's been a very long time since my last blog now and I've even had Jonesy on my case so I promised I'd get one up as soon as possible.  To be honest he's probably been the only person who has noticed that I haven't been blogging apart from Lee who commented on my last training update!  The truth is I just haven't had time to get something decent down as ever since my holiday I've been working away everyday with the exception of the Friday I took off to travel up for the Great City Games.  If I haven't been working I've been training or helping Sophie push her Personal Training and massaging.  She's really been trying to push the Facebook side of marketing lately without trying to sound too desperate or over the top like some other trainers on there.  The whole of Liverpool is running mad at the moment with the Liverpool Marathon just around the corner so it's a great time to push with the sports massages.  I would be very grateful if anyone had any good ideas to help market and promote her business a bit more and if you could all join the group on Facebook you might even be able to pick up a few tips as she's often updating her page with various bits of information running related.

My last blog was way back before my holiday, which seems so long ago already.  Florida was great and it was really good to take a week off running both mentally and physically.  Although to tell you the truth I was still on a mental high after my 5,000m PB a week earlier. While I was away I took the 1^st week completely off and the 2^nd week I started running 30mins most days apart from the days I was traveling.  It was a pretty nightmare journey back as we had a 9hour layover in Chicago so we had to be up really early for the flight from Orlando and then the following night I didn't manage to sleep at all on the flight back to England.  This was then followed up with a few sleepless nights due to jet lag which had a bit of an effect on the amount of running I managed upon returning to England.  Thankfully now I am back into the swing of things and I am managing to run some good solid sessions and have started the season with 2 promising races so far. 

My first race of the season was my Great Britain debut up at Gateshead in the Great City Games over 2miles.  Although I wasn't in the greatest of shapes I have been waiting for this vest for so long now I jumped at the chance when Spencer Barden gave me the call.  Although the race didn't go quite to plan it was a great experience and I thoroughly enjoyed the event.  It was a bit more laid back than races I have been involved in in the past but I think the format is great and helps get the general public interested in the sport.   Quite a few of the athletes were running either their last races of the season or like myself Wilko and Vernon our first races of the season so this helped create a great atmosphere.  The crowds were all fantastic as well and I was amazed that at all points on the course spectators were out in force cheering and encouraging us all on.  Unfortunately GB couldn't quite beat USA but we put a great performance in.  From a personal point of view it was a great opportunity to get the legs moving and I think the race really moved me on a level and helped increase my confidence.  In the early stages of the race Mo pushed the pace on before settling into the pack and it felt fairly comfortable but by the 2^nd lap the lactic was starting to kick in and with about 500m to go the wheels came off a bit and I was just running as hard as I could to try and scalp someone in front of me and stopping myself from coming in last.  Overall though it was a great experience and has given me even more hunger to win more GB vests. 

The following weekend was the Northern Road Relays just around the corner in Warrington.  The course was much better than last time and didn't seem to have as many twists and turns and seemed a bit more spectator friendly.  Individually I ran the fastest leg of the day on leg 2 moving us through from 3^rd to 1^st but it was heart break for the team as we ended up finishing in 4^th despite leading from legs 2 right up until the final leg.  Matt Jackson ran his hardest on the day and did everything he could for his new teammates but not many people would like to go into last leg with Wilko, Hudspith and Weir chasing you down.  I'm sure he'll more than make up for it in his next race.  We can still take many positives from it as we were still in contention on the last leg and also still have Gundo, Harry Harper and Eddie McGinley to come into the team when they are all fit.  Come the 12-stage I think we'll be in a much better position to push Leeds all the way as we have such a good group of runners now with the addition of the Warrington and Irish lads.

Outside of running my life is pretty hectic at the moment.  I've got to the stage where I have been working full time, yet still only on a work experience wage of £50 per day, which is not a lot for looking for looking after a 1million pound job, 8-4:30, which can be pretty hard work and stressful at times.  I've also been doing a bit of manual labour as well which can be pretty tiring.  I'm not currently earning enough to pay rent on a place and run a car, as well as living expenses so I'm still in the position of living with Sophs Mum and Dad, which I am very grateful for but it's not ideal.  Having said that anything in construction at the moment is good and the experience will do me good in the long run.  It's just hard coming home from work and having to motivate myself to get out and run hard.  In an ideal world a rich investor would see this blog and decide to invest in me to be a full time athlete but I'm a realistic guy and realise I've got to work hard to balance out my running and working commitments successfully for the time being anyway. 

I hope I haven't gone on too long with my sob story and I promise I'll make every effort to keep my blogs updated in the future.  Next up for me is the National Road Relays followed by the Great South 10 Mile which is unknown territory for me.  I'm looking forward to it though and I'm well motivated by Scott Overall's marathon debut.   A great performance and deserves his place at London next year.