At this point I’d like to mention that when I phoned the Premier Inn to ask if I could extend my check out time (so I could shower before coming home) the person I spoke to was very nice and said I could have an extra hour. However, if I wanted an extra 4 hours it would cost me an extra £25 (seems a a bit steep for a shower) and when I told Scribs he pointed out that I would have to get my money’s worth by stealing the lightbulbs and the soap. When I told him that it was liquid soap in a dispenser he suggested I stole the dispenser. As an unemployed graduate, this would be quite handy but I can’t quite bring myself to steal lightbulbs and rip soap dispensers off the wall, though thank you Scribs for trying.

Moving on…

At the moment by biggest concern is getting stuck behind people for too long and it damaging my time. I know that you can’t really go for a PB at a big event like this but it would still be nice to break the 60 minutes. Just in case, I’m going to be doing what I’ve read a couple of times – setting myself 3 goals.

1. 68 minutes – I put 70 minutes on my original form when applying for a place so I should be ok with 68. While I know I’ll be a bit disappointed, it won’t be a complete loss.
2. 63 minutes – This will mean I managed a good pace and was probably only held back by crowds, assuming I’m fine (read: don’t get a killer stitch) on the day. I’ll be pretty happy with this time.
3. 58 minutes – Setting a PB will pretty difficult and would probably involve some serious negative splits! I would be really very happy with this time though.

Really I’m just looking forward to having fun on the day and I can think about PBs on smaller events later in the year (I have the Lichfield 10k in September and the Bupa London 10.000 next year, which are both smaller). I’m hoping to take a few photos when I’m in London, having read someone’s blog a few days ago (I’ve already forgotten whos) that included a lot of pictures I’m somewhat inspired. Hopefully I’ll be able to post some of them on Wednesday.

In the mean time, thank you to everyone that has sponsored me so far – I’m up to an impressive £540.05, way over my £350 target. I’ll still be taking donations for a while longer so if you know anyone that would like to sponsor me then please send them to my JustGiving page.

Monday: I wanted to know just how much of an effect my slow attempt at the hills in Sutton Park had on my 10k time so I took Charlie the Garmin. I started off well, at tempo pace, running the first 3 kms in 6’05″ (warm up), 5’48″ and 5’46″. I did the next 3 kms at base pace and still managed to get to the half way point at 30’29″. I thought I was going to be able to keep it up for the full 10k but I got a stitch at the 7th km and ran a 7’00″ and a 7’39″ km, bringing my final time to 64’42″. Still pleased that it was 3 minutes quicker than before though.

Tuesday: I was determined to do better than Monday, so I headed out for another 10k. Started with a strong 3k again, then slowed down a bit to attempt to maintain something around the 6’10″ mark (thank you virtual training man) but was let down again by my 7th and 8th km (6’54″ and 6’37″). Still, I did better than yesterday, managing to get home for 62’17″! Very happy!

Thursday: Cold and wet today (of course, it starts raining the second I step outside) meant that I had fleeting feeling in my fingers and toes and an excess of snot (thanks to raynauds and asthma respectively). I had already decided on a leisurely 5k but decided to try a negative split in an attempt to get used to a faster pace. I made it home in 29’29″, which I’m reasonably pleased with (for a training session that was planned whilst doing it anyway!)

Friday: I fully intended to do a 10k at base pace today but my legs were sluggish and heavy and I found myself jogging instead of running. I decided that if I wasn’t going to maintain a decent pace then I would at least put some effort into the distance and so managed 12k in 78’07″.

Sunday: Ally and I went back to Sutton Park and did the same route as last time. Knowing that I could push myself more than last time I set out with the intention of letting myself speed up on the downhills to compensate for the slow uphills. I made it to 5k in a little over half an hour and then to 6k in a little over 36 minutes. I decided to give it everything I had and try to break the hour mark. I got to 9.1km at 55 minutes and still some hills to go but I really went for it and managed to get to 10k in 59’50″. I now know that I can do it, so it’s just a case of repeating that in 3 weeks time!

Total Run: 47km

Gym buddy Baines

It’s also worth noting that this week is the last chance to buy a RoadID whereby 10% goes towards my sponsorship goal. If you buy a RoadID through this blog after this week then the 10% will go towards whichever charity I run for next year. If you’d like to buy one (and I think they’re a great idea, especially if you run on your own) then please click the button on the right hand side of the page. Thanks.

Tuesday: Scribs joined me for what I’m now calling the weekly charity run (“taking the poor and needy out for exercise”). Accomplished 5.3km in 38 minutes.

Wednesday: Absolutely knackering run today. A very nice 13/14 degrees outside with a bit of a breeze – great running weather imo, but my shoes were a bit off on account of me attempting a negative split (running back faster than I ran out). Because the Nike+ sensor couldn’t pick up my increased stride length on the return journey I found myself at the end of my street but with the Nike man telling me I still had 500m to run. A quick sprint round the block (after a hill climb I’d like to add) left me exhausted. Slightly disappointingly, the [supposed] 8.5k still took me 58 minutes. I might have to take the Garmin out again and get a 5k marker on the canal route.

Saturday: My first outdoor archery competition of the season and, while not really requiring phsyical stamina (it was only 4 dozen arrows), it does take a bit of mental focus. Suffered a bit with a shoulder injury which I think I got on the Friday evening (a tear in my deltoid) but still finished with a score of 319.

Total Run: 22.3km

As you can see, I’ve had very little time for both running and blogging this week. My dissertation is handed in (finally) but now I have exams for the next 2 weeks. I haven’t got as far as writing my blog posts ahead of schedule like I’ve done before so I’m going to have to call a break to my usual Wednesday and Friday posts until the end of the exam period. Usual posts will recommence the week beginning 11th May. In the mean time I’ll still be tinkering around on here. You might have noticed the new Behind the Scenes page, which I’ll be finishing off in my free time.

If you haven’t already, pop over to my Guest Book and let me know what you’d like to see more of on the blog. Until next week!