Today I ran much faster than I'm ready for, I think. I didn't even mean to, but I ran one mile in about ten minutes and the second mile in just under eleven. When I was done, my legs were shaky and really hurting. I'm clearly not ready for that pace! It's hard to know what kind of pace you're doing, though. I guess I just have to get used to it.

Congratulations Anne!

I'm probably doing about 10k with running club. I'm a bit annoyed with the official results from the half, they have me down at 1:50:12, when I know from my watch and the clock at the line that I was 1:49:something, and a guy from my running club who finished just behind me (I was determined to beat him over the last five or so miles when I spotted him ahead of me) said that he thought he'd got 1:49:40 so if the official clock was still under 1:50 when he went past why are we both showing as over?? It seems they had a problem with people swopping numbers or running without proper numbers which messed the results up, so I don't know whether to take my watch time/what I remember the clock saying as my time, or take 1:50:12 and be doubly determined to get under 1:50 officially at the end of February. It's not a huge thing as it's a PB and a good run anyway, but I like getting under these milestone numbers and being able to point at official results to prove it.

I hate events that aren't chip timed. I'd go with your watch.

I don't mind about the lack of chip timing, I've done some great events without chips that are a lot cheaper because of that with perfectly accurate results (and I've done and heard about too many events where there have been problems with the chips to think they're the answer to all the problems), but it's just frustrating this time round.

Never mind, I have three more halves between now and my marathon in May so there's plenty of time to get under 1:50...

I'm feeling so good about my running at the moment, I just want to bottle the feeling. I ended up doing just over 7 miles tonight. The bloke I beat on Sunday in the race is the main organiser of training nights. He always leads the middle group (guess I have no excuse to think I'm not fast enough for it now ) and midway round suggests a detour for a slightly longer run. I don't often go with the group doing the longer run because I'd assumed they'd be too fast for me, but now I know that if he can do the run I certainly can I have no excuse! Anyway, today I went with them despite the fact that it was starting to try to snow, and I was actually having to slow down a bit to let the others catch up in places! I guess that's my last skiving excuse out of the window...

:-) didja ever think when you started your journey that you would be a significantly above average runner? How cool is that to discover that kind of talent!

I never imagined that there was a half decent runner lurking under there. I always did want to run though, so maybe my mind was trying to tell me something.

Good news of the morning, my official time for the half has been amended to 1:49:30 so I'm a happy girlie today.

Helen, we knew your official time was under 1:50 all along, but that is really good that you don't have to qualify it or justify it to yourself or anyone else now.

Have you given any thought to trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon? I'm not sure how old you are, but qualifying times for women start at 3:40 and go up 5 minutes every 5 years of age after 35 (e.g. a 37 year old like me would need 3:45-not holding MY breath). You half time certainly puts you in that ballpark. Not sure if that is a big deal over there, but here it is the Holy Grail of running and people talk of qualifying in hushed, reverent tones.

Anne

At the moment I'm just focussing on trying to do a marathon properly - in Berlin I only managed 4:51 despite having a half time of 1:54 at the time, so I'm just focussing on trying to get that down a bit without getting too carried away. Then the next goal will to try to get a "Good for Age" time for London so I don't need to apply through the ballot - for me that's 3:45 (I'm 28), which is roughly what the predictors seem to think I could do based on my half/10k times. Then after that I'll look further afield, but I don't really have the money to spend on travelling to the US for a marathon at the moment anyway, so Boston isn't a high priority. It is something I'll look into at some point, but only once I've got to London GFA standard.

It took DH about 3 marathons to get it figured out properly and then he was really fast after that. I'm sure you'll do the same, and probably quicker than him because he is so hard-headed. Running Boston is an honor, but qualifying is the achievement! We are going this year--his family is from Boston and so we make a big family trip out of it.

It sounds like the GFA time for London is similar. You sound like you are really on track to make that, if not at this marathon, then the next.

Boston is one of my dreams right now. I might make it a life goal in a few years. Realistically I'd have to take off at least another 20 lbs to make it, probably more like 30, and I don't know if I've got that in me after the first 115! And give up triathlon and just focus on running. And get my behind back to the track for speedwork. Of course, I have other, more important concerns at the moment, but long term goals/dreams like that help keep me on course.

Anne

Anne - that's the rough plan, to do it in a few maras time. I realised it's like losing weight. Although I got here in the end, and had the potential to get down to this weight at the start, it didn't happen overnight and it took time to get to this stage.

Before Berlin I got all excited by race time predictors saying that I'd be under 4 hours, pushed myself too hard and trained too fast at first, burnt myself out a bit and my pace started plummeting and I didn't have the energy to do my long runs properly. I still got out there and tried, but very few of them went according to plan. This time I've got that bit more experience and I'm just trying to enjoy it as much as possible without making the same mistakes. I'm not going to make any bold predictions, but I'd be more than happy with something between 4:00-4:15 or so, then a bit of a break before aiming for GFA either in Amsterdam in October, or London next April (the chances are that I'll get a club place for London next year anyway - you don't need to get the time to be able to run the race, but if you get the time you've got guaranteed entry, otherwise you have to go through a complicated series of ballots and club entry selection processes).

Anyway, this morning I did just over 4 miles of intervals on the treadmill. The plan for the weekend is to get my long run done tomorrow (14 - 15 miles) and then see how I feel and what the weather's like for cross country on Sunday.

Anne - I wouldnt think you would have to give up the triathlon completely, but you wouldnt be able to focus on it. I guess I see it as I can DO triathlons, but not COMPETE (not that I am competitive anyway, I am only mediocre in swimming and running and godawful at biking)

I made the best strides in both endurance and speed the years I had a significant portion of my training in swimming and biking. But you have to give up most of the speedwork in the other events and just use them for base building cardio. (Although when I had just a small injury that was keeping me from running hard, I did my sprint work in the pool and it worked pretty well).

I really hope to BQ someday. I think my best shot is in the 40-44 age range. I still have a lot of just plain fitness improvement left in me right now, so I think I can still get faster for a few more years. Before I got pregnant I was looking at aiming for a 4:15-4:30. I dont know if I can get back there by this fall or not. But I am hoping to finally be able to string together multiple seasons of running, I havent ever been able to consistantly run for more than 9 months with out getting derailed and having to start over.

It was a lovely morning for running today, cool and clear blue skies. A bit windy in places, but not too bad. I ended up doing 15.5 miles, a bit more than my target, because it felt so good, and I didn't even take any walk breaks which is a first for a run over 13 miles - every run I did in preparation for Berlin had a break at some point. I feel GOOD today!

15 miles! Wow! One day I'll do runs like that......maybe!

Today was the second group run with the 10k training team -- we ran 2 miles, which should've been easy, but they took us through a rather hilly area so it was kind of tough. I didn't take any walk breaks, though, and I was pretty comfortable throughout.

Today I braved the -14C which felt like -23C and had a great 6.26k run in 47:04... I feel virtous ...