Countdown

Less than three weeks to go until the Bath Half 2020. I'm excited about the event, but totally not ready to run it.

I've managed to turn things around since my last - rather depressing - post. I've taken up climbing with a few friends from work. We practice bouldering together after work a couple of nights a week. it's a really fun, very different activity. Highly recommended - even though my hands get rubbed raw and my shoulders ache the next day.

A shirtless photo of me for you to enjoy.

The spectacularly crappy weather hasn't helped training. Jodie and I are still forced to run on the treadmill in the gym. This is definitely not helping us get ready for the big day. I wanted to be out on the road, testing our pace and making sure we could maintain a decent time. The Bath Half is in progress for just four hours on the day, so I'm hoping to aim for a good, steady four miles per hour. Just fifteen minutes for a each mile. This is absolutely achieveable and will see us finishing well inside time if we can do it.

Unfortunately, my wife has had to drop out due to her illness destroying her training. Her running pack has still arrived, curiously, so she's toying with the idea of turning up on the day and enjoying a steady walk.

It's still strange for me to be in this position, trying to help someone else train and get prepared for the day. I know from painful experience that physical preparation really only goes so far. At least two thirds of long-distance running is entirely mental. At some point you have to make yourself keep running. I'm trying to remember that.

I'm also trying desperately not to be a total jackass and force Jodie to keep running if she doesn't want to do it. Running isn't for everyone. I got the bug and I liked it. Not everybody does. The last thing I want to do is make it even less fun for her by being some kind of angry drill sergeant while we train.

Faster, maggot!

So what's left to do? I want to get a couple of decent outdoor runs completed before the big day and maybe hit a few big numbers again. If the whole thirteen miles is out of my reach at the moment, I'll be happy with an eight or a ten.

Either way, in three weeks' time it will all be over and I'll have to start looking for the next distance run to keep me in shape. Exciting stuff.