Another great run

It was a joy to watch Mo Farah in Birmingham on Sat. he ran another brilliant race and won going away from the field. It is really satisfying when you see a runner who is able to judge pace like that and know that when the button is pressed for the final burst, a good win is assured.
A bit different from that was the Cross Country racing I attended briefly in my home town on Sat. no great or particularly famous names there, but the object was the same - to run well and do the best you can. The runners had a tough course which was well cut up with the weather but that did not deter them too much and I'm sure they all enjoyed it....
For myself, I am enjoying building my distance up again, albeit slowly. Today I enjoyed a 2 miler which was slightly longer than my last 1.5 miles - easy does it. I hope to be at the 5k distance by mid March.

A Stupendous Feat of Running

News today of a Belgian guy who has just completed 365 marathons in 365 days !!!! This is some feat of endurance especially when as a child he had asthma and was told he should not take part in sports. Makes you think doesn't it. If you are in training for a race then this kinda puts things in perspective. Yes, you can do it, it is only one race. This 49yr old guy woke up every morning and completed a marathon every day for a year. The mind boggles...... Wonder how many pairs of trainers he went through ???

Slow Runners

As I drive around I see a lot of runners out on the streets and I wonder why do they seem to run so slowly. I mean these folks are not going fairly slow, they are going really slow. My first reaction is ''why bother'' then the more I thought about it the more reasons dropped into my mind. Maybe they have went through life threatening surgery and are out there giving it their best to try and get ready for their chosen race in which they can raise sponsorship for their particular charity. Maybe they are on a phased running schedule which means that for this particular run they are just ticking over slowly, a recovery run perhaps. It may be that they have just returned from injury and are gingerly making their way back to some sort of running pace. Of course maybe they are just so slow at running that perhaps this might be their last run. I came to the conclusion that there are many reasons for people running slow and although it may not look so good, for each individual it is part of their running journey, whatever that may be.

What a Win

Got to mention the great result last night in the European 10000 metres. Mo Farrah demolished the opposition and fellow brit Chris Thompson ran valiantly to clinch second. Gold and Silver in one race, fantastic.
What really caught my attention as a runner watching top class runners was the way Mo ran. I have seen him in races when things did not go right and the results were very different. Last night he was in superb form and seemed to toy with the opposition laughing as he went round. When he put the foot down around the final bend he fairly streaked away to a great win. What a difference when you see someone fit, able and confident, not frightened of anybody else in the field.
Well done Mo and Chris.