It really has started…

Well, unfortunately due to Covid, Graeme and I couldn't go to Athens for my birthday. To say I'm gutted is an understatement! At the end of the day though, it is what it is. We had to cancel our trip to St. Lucia in February and on Saturday rebooked it for this June on one hell of a deal, and it all suddenly felt meant to be it was cancelled in the first place. Whilst wallowing in self pity, I started googling half marathons in August and full marathons for November. I was disappointed to see Bath half was moved to later in the year. It looks a good race! While looking through I happened to notice Athens Marathon in November... around the time I need to do one. I asked Graeme if he fancied it and it was a definite yes, I found Sports Tours have a great priced trip there (we have used them before) so we booked it straight away and paid half the money up front. It feels meant to be. So, it was very difficult in previous years to change my training completely. I had always trained and had in my head I was in it for the long haul. Determined, slow, but I'd get there in the end. Unfortunately that meant "fast" or "tight cut off" races were out of bounds to me and I had no confidence I could do them. I would give up on heart rate training because I felt I was getting nowhere. I would walk just as much as I would run (sometimes walking more than running) and felt a complete fraud calling myself a runner. Last week that hopefully started to change as I picked a tougher half marathon training which doesn't incorporate the run/walk method per se. Already my Garmin is telling me I'm productive and massively affecting my aerobic capacity. Maybe a few years off running is what I needed to wipe the slate clean and start again on a new footing? The Athens marathon is a tough one... the website says one of the tougher ones in the world. There is 19KM of uphill running followed by 11KM downhill in 21 degree heat. It's tough and scary, but it's perfect training for Comrades!