In a interesting place

 Time for a update...Rare enough these days....I had planned to give Clonakilty marathon a go in December but as is typical with the shoddy organisation associated with that event the main event was cancelled a few days beforehand. My place has been deferred to December 2023 so I guess I'll have to park it for a while. I know it would have been a struggle for me but I had put a good block of training after the Dublin marathon including a good 20 miler in the driving wind and rain. Therefore I was hopeful of getting around at least but as I said it came to nought. 

For the rest of the month I did very little and simply enjoyed my Christmas and tucked into the grub. The weight went up to 92 kg but I was ok with it.

In the New Year I had resolved to get back running with a view to running the Dungarvan 10 and Kinsale 10 in February and Mallow 10 in March. I did have a very sketchy notion of running the Limerick or Cork marathon. I say sketchy because I have already entered the Dublin marathon 2023 and the aforementioned Clonakilty event. The Dublin marathon is the key long distance event for me so I am reluctant to over cook the legs too much by running Limerick or Cork. 

In terms of running in 2022 I had a decent year clocking up two marathons and 4 half marathons. Admittedly dropping out of the Donadea 50k with covid was a disappointment and recovery certainly affected my running for a few months afterwards. Also doing poorly in DCM was also a disappointment but that's a record I hope to put straight in October 2023.   I still think (based on my half marathons) I was well capable of getting a sub 4 but it didn't happen for me (for a variety of reasons) so going forward that's the goal this year - complete a good marathon in Dublin in 2023. A lot of running friends and acquaintances are showing no signs of decline so I don't see why I should either. 

January and early February has gone well. I am generally running 5 days a week - one recovery run (usually on treadmill), one 4/5 mile run on Tuesday, 5 mile speed session on Wednesday, 5 mile medium pace/hill session on Thursday and a long run over the weekend (currently capped at 10 miles).

What got me really excited was my run at the Dungarvan 10. I had expected to get around in 1hr25mins a slow easy plod but I hit a decent solid pace of 1hr18mins19seconds. It was my slower 10 mile time but as things stands I was delighted with my run. I went away from it thinking I could certainly improve on that time and hopefully that will stand me in good stead during the year. 

That's the plan  at the moment- it has put me in a interesting place.