And now for 2008..........................

Having given you my life lines on 2007, it's time to turn to my running and look back on 07 and forward to 08. 2007 was not my best year ever, but strides were taken in the second half of the year, albeit they were small strides, which lead one to hope for better things to come. It took until June for me to record 100 miles for the year, although there were good reasons, but July, August and September saw strong miles logged and improvements in my running was noted.

I was sidelined for most of October with PF, which put paid to my attempts to qualify for Boston at Philadelphia, but thankfully that seems to have cleared up, and I can renew my quest for 3:35:59 with vigour in 2008.

I was happy with a couple of my races in 07, with a reasonably decent run at the Dublin Half Marathon in September, recording 1:48:58, only 33 seconds off my M45 best, and the Spar Laganside 10K in Belfast saw me running my fastest 10K in four years, with negative splits and a WAVA equivalence of 66.58%, so all was not lost for the year. My total mileage for the year was only 543.8 miles, but given the missing months, I can be reasonably happy that things are going the right way.

The goals for 2008 must start with CONSISTANCY! One hundred miles per month must be the minimum target, and regular running, with no less than 5 days per week a target. I already have a number of races planned, with a trip to California and the Surf City Marathon on Feb 3rd first up. I would hope to be under 4 hours comfortably here, and then Connemara on April 6th, where I will be hoping to break 4 hours on a very tough course. After that, I am leaning towards another US trip and the Flying Pig Marathon on May 4th, where if all goes to plan I will be able to run that elusive Boston Qualifier.

As for other goals, obviously I will be setting new marks for all my distances as I hit the 50 mark in March and go into a new class, M50. Having said that, some of my times at M45 are soft, and I feel that I should be able to lower my times from 10K upwards. Goals of sub 45 for 10K, sub 72 for 10 miles, sub 1:40 for the half, and my marathon time of 4:07 from Prague is a very soft target. with a BQ of 3:35 the aim.

Philadelphia in November will round the year off, and if all goes to plan, and I can remain injury free, I should be running around 3:30 there.

All of this will depend on avoiding injuries and motivation. With the new age bracket I feel motivated to perform this year, only time will tell. One thing I do know, if I can remain injury free, I will have no excuses - As I've said before - If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me!!!.