The Year of the Half Marathon!

2017 is all about the half marathon!

My running goal for this year is to complete the Cardiff half marathon in under 2 hours. Yep you read that right, I'm going for a sub 2 hour half marathon!

My last half marathon was Cardiff in October 2016 and took me 2 hours, 23 mins and 28 seconds so that means I need to knock about 24 minutes off my race time. Ok then...

That about sums it up!

In order to achieve this I am going to have to push myself harder than I usually do. I'm going to have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and with it hurting. When my brain says "WTF are you doing? Stop!" I'm going to have to find the strength to tell it to shut the f**k up and just keep going.

I know I can do this, I know I can push myself further. I've been smashing my PBs since last August, I'm getting stronger and faster so this is doable. I just need to face the fear and not let myself get intimidated or defeated before I give myself the chance to try.

I'm signing up to do 4 half marathons this year so I can keep an eye on how I'm doing as I go, the races are:

Newport on 5th March

Swansea on 4th June

Severn Bridge on 27th August

Cardiff on 1st October

I'm also going to try to blog more often as it's a good way to keep myself accountable and on target. I should probably also draw up some sort of training plan then not really stick to it and end up drawing all over it when I don't follow it. That sounds sensible.

Wish me luck!!

Doing The Parkrun Double on New Years Day!

Wow what a start to 2017!

I woke up at 7am on New Years Day and decided I was going to go to parkrun - start the year as I mean to go on! It was raining outside so I very nearly changed my mind but I was determined to do it. I knew a few of my club Pegasus were going to 'do the double' and also run at Barry Island or Newport afterwards but I was just going to do the Cardiff parkrun. Well, that was the plan anyway.

I arrived at Cardiff parkrun and chatted to my running buddies who tried to convince me to 'do the double' but I was cold and wet before we'd even started so didn't want to."Not this year" is what I said. Last year I couldn't do it because I was injured and promised myself that I'd do it this year but I "just wasn't feeling it". 

That lasted about 400 metres then I turned to John and said, I'm going to run Barry Island parkrun after this! John ran Cardiff parkrun with me and kept me going when I wanted to slow down, he didn't leave my side and laughed when I said I wanted to curl up and die. It hurt. It really hurt.

I didn't beat my PB but I ran harder than I have in a long time and felt great afterwards. After we'd had our barcode scanned, we headed off to our cars and made the journey to Barry Island. I hadn't run the Barry Island parkrun before so was excited and a bit nervous. It's 2 laps (and I hate laps) and it's not exactly flat. I expected to hate it but I loved it! I was knackered from my first parkrun of the day but I just kept going. The marshals were so supportive and encouraging even though it was raining, cold and windy but they kept cheering and smiling as we passed.

The route is mainly 'out and back' which I love. I have such a good time looking for familiar faces and cheering my running buddies on, it's a great distraction and really keeps me going. The last stretch along the promenade was looming and my legs were giving in, then out of nowhere Ally appeared by my side. She kept me going until the end and I am so grateful to her. That's the amazing thing about the running community, we might only see some people a few times a year but it's as though we run together every day. They are supportive and encouraging of each other, I haven't met a community like it before and I love being part of it.

I completed Cardiff parkrun in 29:40 and Barry Island parkrun in 31:21. I expected the Barry run to be slower than that so am very pleased with my time.

Soggy Pegs plus our friendly Les Croups photobomber

After the run I went for a cuppa tea and a bacon roll with Sarah, Rosie and Helen. We chatted a lot about running and exchanged our goals for 2017. We've all decided to do more parkrun tourism this year and are putting together a list of the races we want to enter and/or support our Pegs at.

Wet, freezing cold and pre cuppa and bacon roll photo

I'm so glad I 'did the double' today, it feels like a massive achievement and a wonderful way to start the year.