The Half Marathon is this Sunday. Everywhere I go there are reminders that the event is nigh: Just this very morning whilst driving to a new business meeting on Severalls Business Park I became aware that I was travelling along the route I would be running in less than a week’s time. Will I be able to cross the finish line? By some miracle will I have bested my time from two years ago? I doubt it, but for better or worse here is the final entry into my pre-half marathon log:

I find myself very conscious that Sunday is less than a week away as I sit in our Senior Managers Meeting, trying to get as far as I can from our MD David who is full of cold and I am wildly over-paranoid about coming down with something before the start of the big race. So far, this week has been horribly slow; crawling toward the inevitable starting line. Although the time since signing up for the half marathon has flown by, this week is drawing itself out and I cannot believe we are only on Wednesday! And so I look back over my well-intentioned training plan.

At the start of January I fully intended to go for at least three runs a week, just like two years ago when I last did the half marathon. However, two years ago I would do laps of Abbey Fields with my greyhound trotting along beside me. These days, sadly, she is quite arthritic and walks with the dog cover half the distance at a much slower pace. Mixed in are increased parental pressures including weekend trips to swimming lessons and mid-week pick-ups from after school clubs. It all takes time! And so, inevitably, three runs a week became two runs a week became Look-I-Really-Definitely-Have-To-Go-For-At-Least-One-Run a week. I have, however, stuck to that one run a week, and hit some corkers. Three weeks ago I ran to Rowhedge via Blackheath and on to Wivenhoe along the trail and back into Colchester through the Uni. This Sunday I ran a route (via Rowhedge again – I really like the Rowhedge trail) that I had thought was ten miles long but according to my cheap arm gizmo only actually clocked in at seven and a half miles.

The long and short of it is: I have trained, but not as much as last time. I have run 11.5 miles in one go, but it nearly destroyed me. However, when it is done, provided I pull myself over the finish line one way or another, I will be very, very relieved and pretty proud regardless of how long it takes. This time around has been much more of a struggle to motivate myself to get out and go for a run. Every time I have done, however, I always feel much better for it both physically and mentally. Apart from the obvious health benefits, it is lovely and life-reaffirming to get outdoors and see the sights of the beautiful surroundings we are blessed with in Colchester. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone. I am very grateful to Boydens for having sponsored my entry, and thereby ensured a feeling of obligation to stick with it.

The real challenge of course will be to see if I keep up running after the event. This did not happen last time. Still, I like to think that I will THIS time, and who knows, even come back next year to beat whatever sorry time I clock in this Sunday!

This time around I am running for Prostate Cancer UK and if you fancy donating some money, you can do so here.