Two years ago as part of the attempted fund-raising build up for the Mongolia Charity Rally, I took part in the Reading Half Marathon. In all honesty, I'd entered because my mates were, rather than as a deliberate attempt to get sponsorship - just as well, really, as I think I attracted naff all as a direct result of my hour and 56 minutes of effort.
For reasons lost to the mists of time, but blamed squarely on my inability to ignore marketing emails, I'm entered in the race again this year. It's tomorrow morning. I'm getting picked up at 7am.
I'm really nervous this year. I can't remember how I felt in 2010 - I remember that I helped my friends Pino & Stella move flat the day before, and sat in the pub with my mates post-move sipping an orange juice whilst they got progressively more ratted. I recall my co-runners having differing preparations for the event - Euan joined me on the fruit juice, whilst Colin had arrived down from Aberdeen after work on the Friday, gone out on the piss, had a bagel for dinner at 3am, slept on someone's floor and then gone out on the beers again on the Saturday. They both beat me in the race.
This year I haven't managed the miles, but am a faster runner than before. I have managed to avoid smoking as well - last time I fell progressively further and further off the wagon in the final few weeks before the race, and ended up stopping at Beaconsfield services on the way back to London after the run just so I could buy a packet of fags. I've got injured for the first time in February which meant I missed around 3 weeks of training. Looking back over my training plan, I think I managed to do every session in 1 week out of 12. I've not run more than 19km at any point, and I managed that once, 2 weeks ago. Tomorrow, I need to do 21.
So - I've no idea what tomorrow morning will bring. I haven't eaten any dinner yet, I feel queasy and my guts are in turmoil - although whether as a result of nerves or not it's unclear. But I'll give it a crack and see what happens. I'm pinning my hopes on carb gels, which I've never used before but hope they might give me the boost I'll undoubtedly need after my body's energy runs out halfway through. Pretty sure they're probably on a list of banned substances somewhere though. As ever, I just want to finish. Under 2 hours would be amazing, but I can't honestly see how I would manage it - I ran 15km last weekend and could barely move my legs towards the end.
Here's hoping for a boost from the crowd and a tailwind!
