Happily Ever After

Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running

Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.

Off We Go Again

by Russell Turner - 16:55 on 01 January 2024

2023 proved a good year for bling, if not for PBs. Maybe I peaked in 2020-21 and now, unless I put in more effort, there’s nothing to look forward to except slow decline and old age. Time will tell.

I’ve not abandoned all hope, however. On no evidence at all, I think this could be a good year. Ironically, the first run of 2024 – run No1 of the Virtual London Marathon training block (and RTTS, 11 weeks later) – was a very sedate 30mins which covered a mere 2.6 miles. That’s good because my easy runs are usually too fast; today’s 11:30min/mile pace was much closer to what I should be doing. Whether the maximum heart rate of 118bpm is something to boast about, or worry over, I’ve no idea, but I felt good at the end and barely broke sweat. The cool day probably helped.

I celebrated by making my first running purchase of 2024: a pair of New-Year-offer waterproof socks for ‘only’ £19.99 – down from £29.99. That’s further proof that the allegedly cheap sport of running is no such thing, (although the socks might be useful for the Stones). Last year’s running expenditure topped £3,000, for the second time. Maybe I should stop keeping a tally.

The 2023 medal haul

The City Limits calendar is light on gigs for the first four months of the year, which is handy for training, if not for income, although Sod’s Law means that a couple of 10ks I fancied are out because they clash with some of the few dates we do have. I won’t be entering the Great North Run ballot, or signing up for the Great Scottish Run, for the same reason, despite the plethora of emails from Great Run HQ. Fortunately, music picks up in May and climaxes in August when we’ve eight gigs, which is why there’s no York 10k for me this year.

The rest of this week features more easy running. I’ll make the most of the plan’s cautious build-up. After all, it’s only 27 weeks until I hit the start line of a 100k ultra. This time I intend to cross the finish line too.

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