I said I would post more often, and not leave it another several weeks again. But then it was all work-stress, preparation for Christmas, getting sick, etc. etc.
I haven’t even run in my new minimalist shoes. (I know!) When you’re busy, it’s just easier to stick with what you know, I suppose, and what I know is shuffling along in the same old shoes, with the same old gait.
At least it’s better than not running at all though.
One thing I did do is pick all my medals up from a pile on the floor (where they had been languishing) and start to show them the respect they deserve by displaying them properly. The medals you see in the photo represent competitive races I’ve completed, and in one case, a race I dropped out of.
Training often encourages a tendency to always be looking forward to the next thing, which is good, and at the moment would be the Farnborough Winter Half Marathon for me.
But sometimes it’s good to take the time to celebrate previous achievements.
This rack of medals represents how far my running has come in 2017, since I began training for the Reading Half Marathon, as most of the medals were acquired this year.
Left to right, we have:
- Dash in the Dark – this was a really well organised, 10k, around the woods, with a lot of neon bling on display from the competitors and the organisers. (I did sport a few glow sticks myself). I really enjoyed this event and there was something really special about following the trail of glow sticks around a moonlit woods. This medal was particularly cool because it lets you know that you entered the event during its very first year. (Long may it continue…)
- The Rutherford Appleton 10k (last year’s event)
- The Hurt (2015 event)
- The Henley 10k (2015 event – this was held on the same day in October as the Rutherford 10k, which I entered instead in 2016 and 2017)
- Windsor 15k (the red and white medal) – this was three loops of Dorney Lake, a man-made lake, built for rowing. It wasn’t particularly scenic but I quite like events that do circuits because it helps me to pace myself effectively. It was also an unusual distance and slotted in quite nicely as an intermediate step before the Reading Half. The 15k distance wasn’t the only event being held on the day, although all of the distances focused on doing loops around the lake (you guessed it – each loop itself was roughly 5k)
- The Brixton 10k – this was a great event – two loops around the park in London. Lil’ sis’ and I signed up at the last minute so that we could visit our brother in Herne Hill for the weekend without sacrificing a weekend training run. I have to admit, it’s one of the most colourful medals I’ve been awarded though.
- The Reading Half Marathon – this probably requires it’s own post, and one day I will get around to writing that one, maybe in time for the 2018 event!
- Bolt Around the Holt – a team relay race – four of us completed a half marathon in the Alice Holt forest. (I got my fastest 5k to date on this event, even though it was up and down hills!)
- The Shakespeare Half Marathon (held in Stratford-upon-Avon)
- The Rutherford 10k (2017 event)
- The South Downs Marathon
- The Zombies, Run! Halloween virtual race
- The Little Downs Marathon
- Race to the Stones
