After a hiatus from posting on here, I am back - well, almost. I'm actually in Pennsylvania as I write this, having traveled over last week to New York, and then onto Philadelphia for a fantastic weekend with all my friends from Kick Runners at the Philadelphia Marathon.
If you have had the misfortune to follow my blog this year, you may recall that I was aiming to qualify for Boston this year, at the Philadelphia Marathon. Unfortunately, as ever, the best laid plans go astray, and due to a flare up of Plantar Fasciitis, I was unable to train much over the past 6 weeks, and so my goals were re-evaluated and Philly was going to be a Great Weekend, with the running a secondary consideration.
Without going into the full details of the weekend, I will post a full round-up when I get home, suffice to say I had a wonderful time. There were around 50 Kickrunners in town for the races, and from Friday lunch to Monday leaving, fun was had.
I started the Marathon, with the intention of finishing, but feeling my PF all the way, and ready to take it very easy. I started at 9 minute pace, and more or less maintained this for my race. When I reached 8 miles, I felt the heel, notably on a steep down hill stretch, so I decided at that point, that 13.1 would be more prudent, so I ran to the halfway point, which was the finish of the Half Marathon, so getting an official result. OK, my time was nothing to write home about, 1:59:29, coming in 1482 out of 4269, but the pace was exactly on the 4 hour mark that I had set out to run. On the positive, my legs felt great, and my breathing was excellent, so the pace was comfortable - The PF flare wasn't too bad on the day, and I can report that no extra problems have arisen since. If I had continued on the full 26, maybe I would have done some damage, but I am more than happy with my weekend's work.
I have a bucketful of pictures, and if you are mad to see some pics, just go and look at the KickRunners site, as there are tons of pictures of the events taken by one and all who were in town. I will be in the US until Sunday, then home and a 10 week programme to build up to my next big race - The Surf City Marathon in California at the beginning of February. If it's half as much fun as Philly was, it will be heaven.
3 comments:
Smart call! Didn't know you were in town again. But sounds like you did the right thing. There will always be other marathons. Hope the PF gets better soon.
At least you got in. I did not get into Philly this year. congratulations on finishing the half.
You didn't miss much on the rest of the course...13.1 was the better half of the course on the raining day...
Hope all is well with your PF. Nice job...BQ it will come...
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