Long Time Coming

Its been a long time since I have run well, it seems like years to be honest but I am finally getting back to where I was and enjoying it again. By the end of the year having put so much effort (and cash!) in all year and getting nothing I took a longer than normal break and didn't run in November taking a holiday as I had enough and wanted to relax for a bit, then picked up a horrible bug in December which hit for a couple of weeks. I took it slowly and now I am not far off and feeling good in training again, add that to a slight turn in weather and things are looking up!

Wimslow Vs Reading

I decided to go for Reading for a few reasons over the Championship Half Marathon in Wimslow, the first being the cost. For me to go to Wimslow which is a lot further for me than Reading would mean more petrol money not to mention pretty much having to stay over the night before, then you have the race entry fee as there were no free entrys and they were charging somewhere between £25-£30 (cant remember the exact cost). Now compare that to Reading which was a free entry, only 2 hours away so not only can I miss the over night stay if I want too but wont cost as much fuel.

There is the hassle of roads, Reading is the M4 straight where as Wimslow is a hole load of different roads. Another reason is I have heard good things about Reading's flat course so wanted to try it this year, lastly after finishing the race I can be home in just over 2 hours and after racing for 13miles there is nothing worse then than sitting in a car for 4-5 hours!

Relays

They seem to come around so quickly and are always good fun and hopefully challenging for medals again. The 6 stage last October was as hard as it has been for me at the relays, match the fact of a bit of pressure to win (as it was a quality team where good runners had to miss out) with me feeling like my legs where twice the weight I was glad when my leg was over! I remember thinking in the warm up "this is going to be a long 17/18 minutes" trouble was it was very tight at the front end so I could lose it here if the wheels come off. I couldn't get caught up chasing the front guys because if I hit a wall I knew the body would crack completely so ran my own race and luckily just about held the gap to 1^st place (good mate Kevin Skinner)....Wicks did the rest, while Sp8y took the glory!

The 12 stage is one that has got away so far (2 bronze medals) with Leeds deservedly winning the last 2 years, but I am looking forward to it already and trying to add another gold medal which would also be a good way to send off Sharp as his reign as Captain comes to an end. Just like the premiership big four I think it will be the same again fighting it out of the big prize....Newham, Belgrave, Notts, and Leeds.

Simx