Big excitement today - my race pack arrived in the post. I am 1599. Along with the pack came a thing that you wear around the ankle with a chip in that clocks the time when you start and finish. At first I got really excited because I thought it clocked each mile as well, but now on reflection I don't think it does.

I did the same long run as I did last Saturday only this time I had Rhona, Ben (14) (Rhona's son) and David (17) along for company. Ben ran the first 4 miles with us and then departed for home. He had a rugby match later that day. David, my friend's son, has just taken up running. He regularly plays basketball so he's no stranger to working out, but as we all know, running is a different kettle of fish. David had been going out running for the last month or so, a couple of times a week. I guess, at most, he has been running about 4 miles. I had mentioned to him the half marathon and he is quite keen to give it a go hence he thought it would be good practice to come out with Rhona and myself to get a bit of distance work in. I should mention now that he is very tall and slim and has a long stride pattern.

I noticed not long into the run that David could probably speedwalk the pace we were running at! However, the distance played its part and by mile 9 he was definitely feeling the pinch - his legs were beginning to tire. Rhona was definitely digging in - I really admire her, she is suffering from some sort of buttock pain but she is trying to run through it.

To top it all, although rain was forecast, the sun decided to show its face in its full glory and it beat down on us for the last half of the run - it was HOT! I found it quite weary - the pace was slower than last week and I didn't really find it that much easier. Thankfully, my toe was good - no pain at all. My right leg gave me a bit of stick - not really sure what's wrong there - it felt a bit numb from my buttock all the way down to my calf but I just tried to work through it.

With only two weeks to go to the half marathon I'm trying to work out a game plan. I will continue with my 3 midweek runs as usual, and then next Saturday I shall probably taper down to 10 miles. I'm thinking of running these 10 miles at my race pace to get the feel of how it will be. Then.....only one week to go .......

Time: 2:12.55
Distance: 13+

Show all the statistics for this week's runs

Day	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Saturday
Date	25th September 2006	26th September 2006	27th September 2006	28st September 2006	30th September 2006
Time	18:30	00:00	17:30	00:00	08:00
Route	Train track, weir, BL	rest	Lake	Rest	Nature Reserve, FM, Alwalton, Castor, Rowing lake, Weir
Temperature	cool	-	warm	-	Hot
Distance	6 miles	0 miles	4 miles	-	13+ miles
Time taken	46:57	00:00	35.30	00:00	2:12:55
How enjoyable was it?	8/10	-	6/10	-	7/10