My walking target for February (28 days) is 100 miles and today I put in another eight to bring the total to 30 in the first five days. Keep this up and I might beat my best for a month which currently is 138 and it's a short month.
When I get home after a lengthy walk I always feel stiff and worn out. A quick cup of coffee and a sit down and I'm up and raring to go again. I would love to get into running again but I will have to be disciplined about it.
!0k no problem, 5k that's just a light jog. Not anymore I'm afraid. Time has caught up with my running and I fear I must start with half a mile and try to work up from there.
A number of years ago I had the honour to start up a social running club in Hethersett with the backing of Active Norfolk and former marathon runner Paul Evans. This ran for about four years with free coaching from Paul who I got to chat with on numerous occasions.
Paul was a phenomenal runner. He represented GB in the 10,000 metres at two Olympic Games and in 1996 won the prestigious Chicago marathon in a time of 2 hours 8 minutes 52 seconds. To put that into some perspective, it is still the sixth fastest marathon by a British man. Paul's time has only been beaten by five other British athletes - one of whom is Sir Mo Farrah. He still has the 12th fastest half marathon time by a Brit. Paul also came second in the New York Marathon of 1995 and third in the London marathon of 1996.
Running a marathon in 2 hrs 8 min means running 26 miles at an average of under five minutes a mile. I once did a mile in eight minutes and got quite excited about that. Paul would have been running at around 12 miles per hour. I tried to do get a treadmill up to 12 mph once and shot straight off the back. I found it impossible to run at that speed for two seconds let alone over two hours.
I cannot conceive what it is like to run a marathon in just over two hours. I actually did run a marathon back in 1982. It was the Black Dog Marathon at Bungay in Suffolk and consisted of two circuits from Bungay to Beccles and back. My training had been going well, pounding the streets of Hethersett. I had got up to around 20 miles. I remember it well. It must have been towards the end of February and the marathon would have been in April.
After 20 miles I was very tired and so glad to get home and to bed. My night's sleep was destroyed by a sudden scream and a wife in considerable pain. Straight into the car and off to hospital which at the time was in Norwich. But this wasn't an emergency or a visit to A and E. It was the birth of our first son.
As he was born the nurse remarked how calm I had been. Calm my foot, I was knackered.
Just after Chris was born the nurse said "Would you like a cup of tea and some toast?"
"Yes please," I replied.
"Not you, your wife" was the response.
After that my marathon training went west and that meant I really suffered on the day. Determination got me through, although I think I was one of the last to finish. I looked so bad that an ambulance stopped and asked me if I wanted a lift to the finish.
Going back to Paul, I think anyone that has ever run a marathon would have tremendous admiration for a man that could run 26 miles in 128 minutes.
I remember our village funrun a few years ago. It's only two miles but I struggle even with that distance and was having some breathing problems as I ran down Norwich Road. Paul conducted the pre-run warm up, waved a flag to set everybody off and then jogged through the entire field. As he passed me he turned round and ran backwards faster than I could run forwards and started asking me questions which I couldn't answer, not because I didn't know the answer but because I couldn't speak.
But today I will go out with the aim of running half a mile. Anything further than that will be a bonus.