Wednesday 21 January 2009

Admitting defeat September 2007 - January 2008


As is always the case things didn't quite go according to plan last year. At least not marathon wise.

As planned I entered the 2008 Paris marathon as soon as registration opened. I was running pretty well again and was pain free. The weight that I'd gained whilst injured was coming off steadilly. As often happens though, life was soon to get in the way.

In the middle of October 2007 I was down in Eastbourne & Brighton with work. I arrived in Brighton late afternoon and decided to go for a run along the front. It was warm and bright for the time of the year but even taking that into account it felt incredibly tough. I had to stop at half way, managed only 4 of the 6 miles I'd planned and felt shattered. By 10pm I could hardly manage to walk shakily up a flight of stairs. I got home ok the next day, albeit that I felt awful, and then spent the next 7 days in bed. I tried running a couple of times in the following fortnight but my heart was racing and I felt sick and wobbly within yards.

I did manage a couple of jogs in the second half of November but at the end of the month we moved house and the week or so either side of that were busy enough without running. I did get a couple more runs in around the middle of December but then came down (like the rest of the population) with the winter vomiting bug. Out of the habit of running and with plenty to do I didn't run over Christmas.

By the end of the 1st week in January I'd put on all the weight I'd lost (and then some); had hardly ran in the previous 12 weeks and we were about to have a month's disruption with a new kitchen fitted, new flooring laid throughout and new ceilings put in downstairs.

With focus I probably could have got myself into shape and ran in Paris but I didn't feel focussed and didn't want to just complete the event - I wanted to do myself justice. I wrote off the 2008 event.

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