Half-marathon

I grimaced and panted my way round the Nike Milton Keynes half-marathon this morning in 1:21:57 (6:15/mile pace) – I was hoping to get close to 1:20, so I'm quite chuffed, but I started a little too fast (first three miles in 17:10) and conked out a bit towards the end. The course was tougher than I'd expected – there were some nasty headwinds at times and it wasn't as flat as I'd thought it would be…

I've read somewhere that you can work out a predicted marathon time by doubling your HM time and adding ten minutes (which makes it 2:54). I'll be throwing a few speed/hill sessions between now and the London Marathon, with the aim of going as close to 2:50 as I can.

Inspiration for this morning's run came from somewhere unexpected; I had dinner with my mum last night and she told my brother and I about a period, after she divorced my dad, (I was seven, my brother was four) where she rented a house in the middle of nowhere for £15 a week. She was living on social security at the time, and she was offered cheap rent on the condition that she redecorated the house, so while my brother and I were asleep, she would stay up late and paint into the night. For 20 years she'd never told us about this.

Aren't mums amazing?

— Filed under Training