Sometimes I need to reavalute, and if you’ve read Where It All Began 1-28 you’ll know I seem to do a lot of that 😂 Last year I entered the Jersey Marathon. So, on Sunday I found myself on the start line. As preparation I’d done Boston and Windermere marathons earlier this year, so all was good. Except 14 weeks before Jersey I tore a calf muscle which put me out for 9 weeks. But hey ho, surley five weeks to train for a 26 mile race is enough? The age category prize was 60-70 year olds… at 69 I wasn’t going to win anyway. 😂
The weather was glorious, the crowds turned out in their droves and my eleven year old grandaughter was excited. Nothing to do with my run, she had entered the one mile race starting an hour after me. 😂 Yes my eldest son (mentioned in Where It All Began 15) is now 48 years-old and still living in Jersey. The first thirteen miles were fine, and it looked like I was going to get under 4 hours. Not my best time but under the circumstances, I’d take that. At twenty miles my legs began to feel tired and when I speeded up my calf gave a little yelp 😂. The final few miles took me all the way down the main esplanade from St Aubins to St Helier with the sea on your right. Sounds great? Except by this time everyone else was well in front of me or behind me. Ah, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. I remember it well.
During those last, lonely 6 miles I began to wonder about my life choices and decided it was time to reavaluate. Maybe, after running for fifty years, it was time to take it easy. Swop the running shoes for some golf clubs? Yes, that seemed like a plan. But then… my Garmin watch told me I was still running at 6mins per kilometer with two miles to go. As I reached the last 500m’s there are people again, lots of people, cheering people, clapping people. Yup! There was the finish line, the clock above it said 04:06:00. I was 8th out of 23 in my age category, with only five weeks proper preparation. Okay, maybe it was time to reavaluate my running, but let’s leave it until next year, eh? 😂
Happy Trails, Folks x
