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.
Good News From London
by Russell Turner - 16:12 on 22 January 2021
The prospects of me taking part in another London Marathon event look good – yesterday it was announced that a virtual race will take place at the same time as the real one on October 3. Assuming the real one happens, of course.
The running snobs are already out in force, asking what’s the point and dismissing it as a money-making exercise. Others are offended that people who walk the distance, or stop for dinner halfway round, will receive a marathon medal. I’ve a slight sympathy with that viewpoint, but everyone will know in their heart if they deserve the medal. Anyway, walking it may be a bigger achievement for some people than a sub-4 finish is for others.
If I don’t win a ballot place (I’m not optimistic) I’ll snap up a virtual spot in case covid wipes out the October marathon diary. If it doesn’t, I still have a place in the Yorkshire Marathon two weeks later.
Could I complete two marathons in three weeks? Maybe I’ll be one of the virtual walkers after all.
General online opinion is that the odds of London (and therefore Yorkshire, Loch Ness, the Great North Run and all the other October events) going ahead are 50/50, which leaves my Edinburgh hopes even more faded. It may still be some time before I’m back at a crowded start line.
The icy threat had retreated enough today for me to get out and do four miles without being forced to walk. I might have done more but turned around halfway when hit by a brief flurry of light snow. It didn’t last, or lie, but there was no reason to push my luck. The weather for last year’s January training, leading to my first and last real races of 2020, the Warwick and Inverness Half Marathons, was much more clement. Some mild spring-like conditions can’t come soon enough.
Add your comment
© Russell Turner 2008-2024