Almost 50 Not Out!

I haven't written since my post Berlin Marathon run down, and lots of racing and not alot of training has happened since. I've just checked my training blog and out of my 10 runs so far in October I have done 5 races and 5 training runs. One encouraging thing to come out of this is that my average pace for this month is 7:41 min miles something I haven't come close to achieving throughout 2012, but rather than indicating that my form is about to turn I think it shows I probably need to train alot more!

I decided to skip the Great Southrun this morning which would have made it 6-4 to races. I have had alot on at work lately and have also been racing alot so thought Lauren deserved a bit of my time somewhere other than a car, and I'm really pleased with our choice. We did the Great South in 2010 and it was a great race all very efficent and well organised but even then it does take up most of your day for what is a 10 mile race. I did admit to Lauren that if I was in PB shape that the race would definately have got the green light, and even though my 10 mile PB of 1:12:05 is one of my weaker PB's I was still light years away from being able to challenge that this weekend.

The training runs I have completed have been a couple of failed attempts at run commutes home and a few tempo runs which felt good. Whilst the races have consisted of a Parkrun in Middlesbrough, the first 3 Southend Parkruns and the Leigh-on-sea 10K. I was in fantasy land when I hoped for sub 20 at Middlesbrough and came in over 21 minutes. This revised my expectations for the Southend Parkrun, I managed to do 20:45 but I'm happy now having run this three times that it's at least a 100metres short. My other times at Southend were very similar but my placing changed depending on who attended, with the highlight being 8th place at the 2nd event. I am now right up there in the points competition with my consistent attendance paying dividends. Trying to win that is now a big goal of mine, one I fear I may just fall short of.

The most pleasing result of the October series was the 10K at Leigh-on-Sea, it was pretty hilly with 2 or 3 good climbs before halfway and I managed to really turn the pace up in the final 2Km's to finish just outside 48minutes. Which is slow, relative to even my current race results, let alone my PB's, but I was really pleased with my run on a tough course in difficult conditions and I definately felt I had more to give in those final few Km's.

My goals for the remainder of 2012 will be to run well at the Parkruns I attend either in Southend or Middlesbrough, whilst also performinig well at Billericay 10K next Sunday and hopefully beat my Leigh-On-Sea time. As well as this and perhaps more importantly for 2013 is to get some decent training done and lay a foundation for finally running fast again in 2013, I hope to run nearly 200 miles in the final 2 months to bring my total mileage for the year to 800 miles and beat the 794 miles I ran in 2011.

O and the reason for my blog title? I have now run 49 races (if you include the 15 Parkrun time-trials) in the past 3 and a half years since my first run out on the 2nd May 2009 and will hit the big 50 this Saturday at the Southend Parkrun :-)