The standard has been set

Well the standard has been set! Of the group of us opting to do spring marathons Sophie finished hers in a fantastic 4 hours 35 minutes. The photos told the story before I even saw her to get it first hand. She looked tired but very happy still clad in her marathon poncho, her finishers medal proudly displayed and then further photos of her enjoying a glass of post run wine made it appear she hadn't even run, she was glowing! Messages next day told a different story as she said she was hobbling and the stairs were a nightmare, but that she was thrilled!

Week 2 of my taper nearly over and I have astonishingly felt quite guilty, it's been difficult to reason with myself that I don't need to run as much as I have been doing. Monday (rest day) was taken care of as I was invited out for a meal with an ex employer from way back, Tuesday should have been 50 minutes easy but as I was unable to fit it in and so I left it until Wednesday and went to club, a nice easy 7 miles with Dawn and Alison took us down onto the canal and back to club via Calverley, Greengates, Thackley and Idle. Thursday's session with Mick was a fartlek session around Peel Park followed by a massage back at the cricket club -bliss! A student had approached various clubs for work experience and so we were offered the chance to help her out, and excellent it was too. I'm considering booking in for a sports massage in the week before my marathon. It's becoming reality now that our distance training course is coming to an end and our final session for feedback etc scheduled for next week signals the onset of the final few days before the big day......

I'll finish this week with a club run tomorrow, volunteering at the Bradford Parkrun on Saturday and I've opted to stay with my training plan and do a 90 minute run on Sunday with Sophie instead of racing the Pennine 10k and this brings me to the start of my final week of tapering.

The next victim for the 26.2 mile distance is Mick himself who's taking on the Lochaber Marathon, Fort William in Scotland on Sunday so it's good luck to him!