The rebuild has begun, week 1, 25miles

Hello. It's been a few months since my last blog. Although I've been quiet it's been far from uneventful.

I did a run on October 3rd in prep for the Herts 10k but got a pretty bad chest infection which floored me for a few weeks. It was so bad I ended up having a chest x-ray, and that was so bad I had to go for another. Yep, the first x-ray suggested something suspicious and so I was sent back with my heart very firmly in my mouth.

Fortunately it was just a very bad infection but the evidence was it would be 4-6 weeks before I was fit, well that was November written off. Just when I was about to kick off in early December I got the next round of lurgy that hit everyone down here. So no running until after Christmas. Phew. Sorry about that lot but you might have wondered what's been going on.

Anyway. New Year, new start and time to rebuild the 1000 mile man. Ha ha.

It's been a bit harder than I hoped. The legs have been hurting, the heart pounding and the lungs wondering what's going on. And all at a snails pace.

To be fair, it's got easier and this morning as I set off in the dark to meet Anthony, I had no regrets about a 0645 wake up or running in the freezing cold. It was invigorating.

We managed a good 11 miles at chatting pace at just over 9min. Slow but this was the longest run for quite a few months.

The plan for this next week is to build the mileage, let's see if I can get 35miles in and add a rep session on Thursday. That should be fun.

I also need to get a few races in the diary so any ideas fire them my way. 2011 targets are a sub 40min 10k and a sub 1.30 half marathon. Not sure whether I'll manage a marathon but Loch Ness sounds tempting.

Anniversary Run with Speirsy, 11miles

We're just a week short of a year since Speirsy first Sunday morning run. That was a loop round Cooters End Lane and then the Herts 10k route.

Today we met for an easy 10 miles. He's doing a 56 mile race next Saturday so wanted an easy paced run. Suited me, 9min sundays are perfect. Anthony and a new Paul were out but both SavaPaul and Dave had letters from their mums.

Simon and Paul led the route. The beginning was well known up the path to Mackery End. From there we headed towards Kimpton mainly on new paths for me and Anthony. We popped out near Barley Bean Farm which is one of our road routes but were quickly back on paths and fields.

I was lost even though I knew we weren't that far from home, just completely disorientated.

Simon and Paul set an 8.40 pace while Anthony and I held the 9. Simon and Paul waited up for us.

Good run. Will do those paths again. Tough ups and no real gimme's on the down as you're continually ducking under trees and bushes.

Legs hurt afterwards, that's my longest run in quite a few weeks.

Anniversary Run with Speirsy, 11miles by kdmurray65 at Garmin Connect - Details

Wet one, 14miles

This was a repeat of the 6 December run. Just me and Anthony, 0645 start, howling wind and rain.

We went up to Peters Green, the long climb was hard but Anthony was running so well he chatted the whole way. Then we went over to Barleybean Farm and down to Kimpton. The wind was in our faces and the rain was constant. I was soaked through but feeling ok. Anthony was on form and could've gone faster.

From Kimpton it was the steep climb up to Gustard Wood. A couple of cyclists shouted at us "Are you mad?" That was classic, you could see they were complete psychos.

On the way down to Wheathampstead we see another runner coming our way. He says in a posh English accent "the road is water logged ahead, there's a 100 yard puddle blocking the way". Anthony shouts "no worries we've got our bouyancy aids". When we reached the "puddle" it was pretty bad. But we're from up North, so we just went straight through. About half way along I realised that my feet had frozen and by the end I was losing feeling above my ankles! It was very cold and deep water. Worthy of the photo.

From Wheathampstead we went along the road and then along the Lea Valley to finish with a run up Crabtree Lane. This was back into the wind but who cares by that stage. We were soaked, freezing and heading for home!

Anthony was in awesome form. he even managed to take over from Paul and do a bit of form work on the hills. He also maintained a sub 9 min pace all the way while chatting. Good man.

In the end it was 14miles in just under 2 hours. That's 8.30 pace, faster than the December 8.41 pace. Nice effort but everything is soaked and I'm not sure the trainers will recover.