Good news and bad news

Four bits of exciting news since last time:

Becky completed her Moonwalk with flying colours. I don't think she'll be doing it again though - combination of missing out on a whole night's sleep, bad route (seeing finishing line about 10 miles from the end isn't ideal psychologically), and a fairly miserable atmosphere (I suppose they miss out on the jazz bands, supporters etc.) That said I am IMMENSELY proud of her.

Someone (actually Steve Smedley from Suffolk) has mentioned my blog in his blog (http://www.millwalkhouse.co.uk/2006/04/running-along-tram-lines.asp) - very exciting. There's probably a term for a blog being blogged - any suggestions.

My chip has arrived. Not the kind of chip I'd usually get excited about I'll grant you, this is the one that measures your EXACT time if (and only if) you remember to thread it through your laces before you set out. I'm guessing that quite a few of you don't share my excitement on this one. Probably the majority that aren't going to scan the web to look for the new season's football fixtures at 10am on 22nd June. Oh well, each to their own.

Having done a fair few 4 mile runs and even a couple of 5.3 milers I decided on Sunday to actually do a 10k. I finished it albeit in an agonisingly slow 68 minutes (that's the fourth exciting bit of news) but did something to my knee whilst running. Bugger. As it is getting a bit better every day I'll wait and see how it goes.

My priorities for this race on Sunday week were:
Finish in an hour or less

Now they are:
Start the race
Finish without walking
Finish in an hour or less

I realised that I could probably beat the hour mark (with which I've become so obsessed) if I do the run/walk/run thing but I don't want to do that which has shown me that running it all is more important to me than time. I think.

Final word on the psychological side of things:
1 - In the first 20% of the run you'll want to turn back, go home and have a nice cup of tea in front of Big Brother. DON'T. Think of the feeling you always get when you finish.
2 - There will be periods on the run when the going will be both painful and agonisingly slow. For every one of these there's a period just after where everything picks up a bit and seems just a little easier. Stick with it.

Hope to write again before I hobble round 10k.