The countdown begins again

less than three weeks to go to the Nike 10k, my friends, and things aren't going particularly well... I've been trying to increase my speed in the interim between the British 10K and the upcoming corporate megathon. Unfortunately, it would appear that my body is incapable of pushing itself even a tiny bit to achieve the desired result. I've managed to run at a pace which would see me coming in at under 50 minutes for a 10K - only problem is that I only made it round for 2.5k and just about managed to crawl home.

Last Tuesday I felt pretty good, so ran 5k in 26 mins - not that bad and it felt quite quick; the only problem was that, with around 2k still to go, I felt a sharp pain in my groin. Knowing that I was on a reasonably good pace, and being a generally stubborn and idiotic soul, I kept going and as a result have had a sore thigh for the last week. I tried to go for a longer run on Thursday but a combination of the thigh and general lack of fitness saw me have to stop after 6k - around 2k from home. The walk back was bloody demoralising - as I've previously stated I tend to have a stubbornness when running that always sees me home no matter how wrecked I feel. Not this time; the walk seemed to take around half an hour, and by the time I got back to the house i was cold and pathetic. I tried to cheer myself up by reminding myself that I had run further than at any point since the last race - somewhat unsurprisingly it didn't help.

19 days to go. 4km to find. Two nights training this week sacked off at a second's notice to enable alcohol consumption. Plans made to see old mates for the first time since Christmas on the 28th of August, followed by a good friend's leaving do on the 29th before he moves to the Czech Republic - leaving me a day's recovery prior to the race.

To borrow my girlfriend's surname, I am Fokt.