A New PB & Eighteen Miles High

Well, having not blogged for weeks due to extreme business and the loss of use of my fingers, I can confirm that training has been going well. Last Sunday I conquered the famous Berkampstead Half Marathon renowned for it's hideous hills and fantastic decline in the final mile along with Niall and Kenny and achieved a new PB in the process. 87:20 was the official time, placing 69th out of some 1191 finishers. Disappointing to know that the same time last year would have placed me in the top 30. But a fantastic race all the same with cracking weather and scenery.

The preparation on Brighton's hills during the week leading up to the event definitely came into play. I also qualified for a guaranteed entry into the NYC Marathon 2009 in October, which I will definitely be competing in. Sadly Tokyo is a no go due to the GBP's poor value and Japan's high prices. If you know a way of reclaiming entry fee's, do let me know.

So with only 4 weeks to go until Rotterdam I figured now would be a good time to get in a long run, so embarked on an 18.3 mile trot this morning, finshing in 2:18 - four minutes down on my previous attempt but put this down to too many miles these last few weeks, the race 5 days ago and noisy neighbours. So injury free and tapering is key for the coming 30 days.