Half-way there!

Well it's been a mixed week in terms of marathon preparation! In terms of getting sponsors and support for the MAIN Project, things are going very well indeed! I've had loads of people contact me having seen the article in the paper and offer to sponsor me. There have been a number of noticeable themes in peoples comments..... 1. what on earth is going on with your hair in that photo? (yes I know, thank you!),  2. You're only 28? I want to see your birth certificate! (erm thanks very much u cheeky sod! I am nearly 29 though to be fair!), 3. do you always wear make-up to go running in? (no - of course not but I thought my usual running look of bright purple face wouldn't look too appealing in the paper), and 4. 26 miles? are you mad? (Yes).

On the running side, however, things haven't been progressing quite so well! After my 9m run in the snow last Sunday I was left with all sorts of aches and pains Monday and Tuesday so I just went to zumba those days and left my running shoes at home. Wednesday and Thursday went by in a blur due to long days and endless hours in the car because of terrible conditions on the roads and before I knew it it was Friday and I didn't want to run last night because I had planned to do a long run this morning. So we went out for a pizza and a bottle of wine instead! Hmm not the best week of marathon training, but interestingly this gave me more motivation and energy (probably both driven by fear and guilt) to get up at a reasonable hour this morning and head out for a long run. And run long I did! Half a marathon to be exact - and do you know what? It wasn't even that bad. For YEARS I wanted to run a HM in under two hours but struggled with the training, my confidence and the belief that I could do it. Now, I just get up on a saturday morning go for a nice little jog to redcar and back and low and behold I've done it again. When I last did the GNR in Sept 2011 I did a PB of 1:48, - we hammered the first 9 miles at 8min pace before I hit the wall and struggled through the last four miles with Ste's encouragement! Today, I feel that I took it pretty easy but in the end it was only 9 mins slower than my PB! Could this be progress?!?!? I hope so because in 15 weeks time I'm going to have to run twice as far!