Friday, 2nd April – 23 days to go

Today I’m mostly doing limping and groaning. I’m also doing stalking – cyber stalking. Well, being nosey anyway. Had a quick look at the Paris marathon website. Is it just me or does anyone reading the site have to adopt a cod French accent when reading the info on the site? 40,000 runners. You get allocated a different coloured bib depending on your predicted finish time. Pink for 4hrs 30mins and over! Sophie is grey (4:15) and Russ is blue (3:30). Pacemakers will carry the same coloured balloons. Raisins, oranges and bananas every 5k – push a shopping trolley around and you could live for a week on healthy food! Route looks scenic. I’m envious, but I would be highly anxious if I was doing it as it’s only nine days away.

Chris does stalking (2). A couple of weeks ago I looked up the splits of runners who finished 2009 London Marathon within a couple of seconds of both 3:15 and 3:30 to see how they got there. Most did the first half a good bit quicker than the second half. 1 in 15 did a negative split. The same 1 in 15 ran consistently throughout. Thought I’d check out people I know who have run it. Tom, Helen and Mick all have amazing pacing skills. There is no significant variation in their 5k splits. Tom and Helen both have negative splits. I think it will be quite a motivator for me to run sensibly knowing that my splits will be made public. I also like the idea of having (GBR) after my name as it makes me sound like I’m an international. Long overdue.

Also had a quick look at the Lochaber marathon. Madness. Suspect Mick won’t manage a PB there or get a great deal of support along the way. I really like Fort William though so again a little envious.

Have a gym session at Tony’s; it’s Good Friday, but the man never rests. Do upper body and then he tries to get the lactic out of my legs. Says there’s still some tightness in the right hamstring as I manage not to whimper. I’ve loosened up through the course of the day and the massage has helped. Ready to go again on Monday for the last long run.