Running

Sometime back in March I ran a half marathon around Reading. Start and finish were at the Majeski stadium which meant we had an amazing finish line: in the stadium itself. After nearly 13.1 miles pounding the pavements, a wave at the girls and Mr S as well as a sprint finish over the line provided the perfect boost and backdrop for a sprint finish.

My time? 2hrs 8 mins. A full five minutes slower than my last half marathon: Windsor in 2003 in 2hrs 3 mins.

Reading was great fun, being in the city (sorry, town) centre and round the houses you get loads of spectators cheering you on. Additionally, you get the spectacle of the fancy dress runners as well. Highlights included a chap in a Mankini, a comedy camel and assorted superheroes. Actually, the Mankini wearer overtook me in the first mile (to many cheers from the crowd) and thankfully that was the last I saw of him.

I've come to the conclusion that I prefer trail running, my training tends to be a combination of tarmac and trails and the off-road running is so much easier on the feet over long distances.

I'm definitely going to do Reading half marathon again. I've signed up to do a small half marathon at the end of October. Aim is to do it in less than 2 hours.

I've not done much running since the half marathon. Instead I've been doing a combination of circuits (Courtesy of Jillian Michaels), yoga (Courtesy of Tara Stiles), cross-training (courtesy of our cross trainer) and weights/ circuits based exercise (courtesy of my gym).

This Sunday saw my first run since the half marathon - just over six miles in an hour so pleased with that. Just need to keep it up now.



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