Oops!

Has it really been almost 4 weeks since we updated our blog?

Lazy rascals!

Actually ... we really have been lazy rascals. Our training in the second half of December was negligible and I ended the year with a total of 1,516 running-miles in my log. We did, however, have a lovely "non-Christmas" family holiday in the Middle of Scenic Nowhere which allowed us to introduce ourselves to the Howgills and to become inspired by local fell-runner Hugh Symonds's peak-bagging exploits in 1990.

We also managed a cold but cheerful 10 miles on Corn Du, Pen-y-Fan and Cribyn on 28th December. Leon has the photographs ... LEON!!!

Leon started running again on 30th December, and promptly ground to a halt on 1st January when he came down with a virus that was marauding around the household. He's better now, but still looking a little speckly, so common sense suggests that he shouldn't run today.

My training began on 1st January, with a couple of one-mile runs with the children and then 6 miles on my own. Given that my weight has crept up a few pounds and I was wearing three layers of clothes plus buff and gloves, I was happy with an average pace of 10.11mm for very easy running. And my shin was painfree :-)

We'll have another enforced break from running next week as we're going to Zermatt. We could make time to run there, but that would be such a waste of a skiing holiday so we're unlikely to run much unless the weather is so bad that we're forced on to the hotel treadmill.

We went to Zermatt last January, and did go running a couple of times to get up close to the Matterhorn and take some pictures. I believe I have the best-ever running-shoes for snow and ice - the Inov-8 Mudclaw 340, an orienteering shoe which has little metal posts in some of the forefoot studs. Sadly, it's no longer made. It's better even than attaching Magic Spikers to trail-shoes.

And after that, it'll be five weeks until our first marathon of the year - Draycote Water. Before my shin started to act up, I was hoping to try to scrape a PB. I've revised my objective for the race to "learn to laugh in the face of boredom". It's a well-organised race, but a supremely dull course - 4.75-mile laps around a reservoir on a gently-undulating tarmac road. Last year, Leon and I stopped at 21 miles because we couldn't be bothered going round again. We can't have that sort of attitude when our target event for 2009 involves running the same marathon every day for ten consecutive days.

Happy New Year, everyone :o) xxx