My plan for preparing for this winters half-marathon is to increase my long run by half a mile per week. Last week I failed to do this, as I misjudged the distance and on returning and working it out was disappointed to find I had only managed 5 miles again.

Today, Alison & I went for the 5 mile North Colchester route and I mentioned that an extra half-mile would be nice. So, as we descended Ipswich Road, Alison suggested that we don’t take the footpath down Broadlands Way joining with Cowdray Avenue, but instead carry on down Ipswich road to the roundabout. I realised that by not cutting the corner we would go a little further, but it was a whopping 0.7 miles further. Looking on the map, I can see why as the main road actually doubles back on itself at that roundabout.

As the news about the London Marathon pointed out, it was a hot day which meant that running was a tad hard! About three quarters of the way round – climbing Turner Road – I was flagging badly, and Alison kept offering for me to stop – I suspect it was because she was finding it much too easy and wanted to run off at a more impressive pace. Saying that though, we did the first mile in 8:47 which is very pleasing for me. At this stage in my training, quitting is not an option and I battled on.

As we got near home Alison told me that we had done 5.77 miles in 55:37 so I decided that it was enough, and walked the last couple of hundred yards as a cool down, while Alison proved my earlier suspicions correct my running off and doing another 3.3 miles in less than 30 minutes to achieve a new personal distance record herself. So, we both did well today.

Seeing the runners on the news tonight, I suspect that the heat wasn’t the only reason so many people looked in trouble. I suspect that many first-timers had simply not done enough training, maybe because they ran out of time or were too ambitious. I hope I don’t look the same in November.

Alison is now considering entering the Southend half-marathon in June. I hope she goes for it, as I know she can do it and she could benefit from pushing herself forward!