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Boston marathon races

Boston Marathon (UK) 2020

Well, sort of. The title of this page is what was shown on my bib, after the race was postponed three times, eventually taking place on Monday 31 May 2021 rather than the originally planned Sunday 19 April 2020. I think most of us in the race would probably regard it as the Boston Marathon […]

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Boston marathon

More delays

The day after my last blog post, and this from MK Marathon: We have been working so hard with our partners, including Milton Keynes Council to stage the Rightmove MK Marathon Weekend on 1-3 May 2021. However, unfortunately, due to late Government clarification on the COVID-19 roadmap, including the recent and unexpected ban on spectator […]

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Boston marathon parkrun running

Looking brighter

My last post, entitled “What’s next?” (which I struggle to write without hearing Martin Sheen in my head) was as long ago as August. It’s hard to decide whether a lot has happened since then, or not very much. Whatever one’s perspective on that, things are looking much brighter on quite a number of fronts. […]

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Boston marathon races running

Not the Boston Marathon

Sunday 19 April should have dawned with me in a Travelodge near Boston, Lincolnshire, ready to drive the final distance to the town to arrive about 8am ready for the marathon later in the morning. Instead, I rose at 6am at home, had a banana for breakfast, and Lucy and I left home at about […]

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Boston marathon running

Marathon preparations

So, in 2018, I stuck to my beginner’s training plan, but I was probably too ambitious about my target pace, and more problematically I had knee niggles going into my first marathon, and they duly manifested themselves a little over half-way through the London Marathon, and I had to walk a good deal and go […]

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Boston marathon

Keep on running

It was a week where the UK started to shut down properly as the coronavirus epidemic intensified (though with much more to come), and we staggered from one extraordinary government announcement to the next with barely time to take breath, and virtually no challenge or scrutiny. But, returning to running for the moment, I opted […]

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Boston marathon

Boston Marathon (UK) postponed

So the almost inevitable has happened, and the Boston UK marathon has been postponed, until 13 September (maintaining the link with Boston USA). I will be contacted in due course, and offered one of three options: 1. Do nothing and thus transfer my entry to 13 September.2. Request deferment to the 2021 Boston Marathon, on […]

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Boston marathon

Coronovirus dominating thoughts

At the end of last week’s blog, I reported on my plans for my personal marathon on 19 April in the event that the Boston UK marathon is cancelled. By Tuesday morning, as the evolving situation worsened, I was suffering from a lack of motivation but I managed to get myself out of the door […]

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Boston marathon races

Victoria Park half-marathon

I started the running week on Tuesday with 10km comprising a 1.5km warm-up, then 3 lots of 2km brisk with 500 metres recoveries, concluding with a 1.5km jog. Wednesday saw me setting out before dawn from Whittlesford station for a 13km slow run along the cycle paths that head in all four directions from the […]

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Boston marathon dogs

A week of running and Covid-19

So, what’s been in the news this week? Very little reporting of my running in week 9 of the 16-week training plan, but a fair bit on Covid-19. Let’s start with my running. Tuesday saw me travelling to Bury for my favoured hill. I park so that I have a 1.5km warm-up run to the […]

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Boston marathon races

Dorney Lake Half-Marathon

Week 8 of my 16-week marathon training plan had a half-marathon race, and I’d chosen Dorney Lake. This is only a small race, but is simple, almost flat, and I hoped would give me what I needed – a little bit of atmosphere, something different from an ordinary training run to test myself a bit, […]

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Boston marathon parkrun

Distances build

Week five saw another 11km slow run before work on Tuesday which at the moment still requires a fair bit of running in the dark. Wednesday was what I suppose you could call fartlek, being 3km of my normal slow pace (6:59/km), then 3km jog with Lucy and Brindley, and then 3km at marathon pace. […]

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Boston marathon parkrun

A quarter of the way there

So, I’m four weeks into the 16 week marathon training plan. The long Sunday runs still aren’t all that long, but the weekly mileage is consistently above what it typically is, and my legs are hopefully getting more used to running when tired without too much objection. Week two: three midweek runs from home, a […]

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Boston marathon parkrun

Marathon training plan one week in

The first week of 16 in the marathon training plan is complete. As I said in my previous post, this was an odd week, with the original plan mauled about a good deal. Let’s see how the remaining 15 weeks stand up to encounters with real life: this week’s deviations were planned from the start, […]

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Boston marathon

Third time lucky?

London Marathon 2018 was a great experience, but somewhat unsatisfying as a run since I injured my knee around mile 14 and thus went much slower for the remaining 12 miles and was very focused on that pain and whether I was going to finish, in addition to the challenge of a very congested course. […]