Never too much March.
Another nice long run of 20.6km rounds out the month which has totalled just over 229km, my best month of running in years, and perhaps ever. To put it, and my see-sawing history as a runner into perspective, this is some six kilometres more than I ran for the entire year of 2015, which, by contrast, was easily my worst year of running since taking up the sport back in 2003.
So, where to now? With a few weeks of solid base-building behind me since our return from Sri Lanka, it's perhaps time to focus on a couple of race goals. The next race is the Sydney Half Marathon, but that is still seven weeks away. So to get there, I will focus on yet more base-building, but also with some speed and strength work to help run a decent time at the Sydney Half, which is to say, something nearer to two hours than the two-and-a-quarter I ran at Almeria. Beyond that, it will be a case of building endurance with a view to running a full marathon at the end of July, if I can survive the winter with my training schedule more or less intact. Beyond that further still it is too far away to really seriously say what I should do, but I'd at least like to keep some options open by running a good marathon time. And one option I definitely would like to keep open is the Point To Pinnacle in November. Despite running this event four times already, I still feel as if I have unfinished business there, as I'd really to like run it feeling as though I'd put in my best effort, and breaking 2h30m for the race, which should be feasible if I don't skimp on the training.
But anyhow, as I say, there's a lot of water to flow under the bridge first. Oh, if only it were that easy - water flowing under a bridge sounds positively luxurious compared to the countless hours and many hundreds of kilometres that must be ground out in the running shoes between now and then. The water metaphor, however, is appropriate just now as the east coast of the country suffers serious, debilitating flooding in the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie. Some areas have received as much as half a metre of rain in 24 hours, catching even normally alert towns and hydrologists by surprise as river levels rise quicker, and far higher than ever previously thought possible. Fortunately, vigilance in the face of natural disaster is something this country has been forced to learn well over the years, and, if not perfect, then we have at least honed it to a very high degree, and the impact of these catastrophes is far less than in times long ago, even with a greatly increased population base at risk these days.
It's tempting to think that in a similar manner, I have weathered the storms of procrastination and sloth before and now know properly the way forward. The truth, of course, is far more complicated, but let's see where this heads anyhow. Whatever the destination might be, the journey will be interesting. As a sort of tabula rasa adventure, I think there will be plenty to write about in the coming weeks.
Stay tuned.
March Too Much
