Into 2013 ..... "Quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat."

After what IS a few months of racing inactivity, then this blog stutters into life - and well into 2013 at that.

So, what have I been up to? Actually quite a lot of mileage for the coming year where, don't tell anyone I said so, but further Pb's will be quietly targeted and further adventures both old and new will be revisited or started afresh. Ideally, I aim to complete, alone, a few long distance paths that have been less covered in the written media by runners of late: The Minster Way, The Woldsman along with a few of the more obscure paths ... that sort of thing, as well as catching up with friends on the official ultra circuit races and of course the Mountain Rescue fund raising events which I enjoy taking part in. Once again, notice the absence of the word "compete" from the narrative; I`ll save that for the Swaledale Marathon later in June.

To date, 199 miles of road / track training miles. Mostly in the dark, when it's been either snowing or raining, blowing or just plain freezing underfoot. Crunching through broken ice and kicking frozen molehills over in the pitch dark has proved such fun!. However I take comfort from the fact these hard yards will be rewarded later in the year when life and colour returns to the countryside.

Retaining a glacial pace for most of my running career to date, I've tried hard this year so far to concentrate on intervals albeit on the flat tracks of North Nottinghamshire. These runs have seen me start off very positively like this ...

... only to return, shattered, a few hours later, in the late evening looking like this after striving for any improvement ...



And, after 15 odd miles of pitch dark evening road and track runs, I can never get my last mile under 7.25 minute pace ... I know my place in the scheme of things.

I even paid my club subscription fees uncommonly early this year: Within the first 48 hours of the New Year which, as all my club mates at Tickhill R & AC will confirm, is a first for me ... in fact so early that I got billed £5 surcharge for early settlement! - however, its also been great to catch up with everyone else after my hibernation period and to see and hear plans for the year ahead.

Many marathons and challenging events are in the wings for many of us all: First ultramarathon for me being the Wuthering Hike on the 9th March followed by the Falcon Flyer the following weekend of the 16th.

So I cant wait to get over Top Withens again on the Wuthering Hike to immerse myself into all this landscape again for 32 miles ...

 

So, after a lengthy period of radio silence during the winter chills, it's time to get ready for those hill challenges. Mileage has probably been OK but, as ever, my timetable doesn't allow for much hill work and so I have to accept what I get ... time will tell. And, by the end of this year I'll be in the V50 class ... then the hard work really starts with the quality of the boys in that Category!