March month in review

It is fair to say that March has been a real mixed bag for me.

On the plus side, I have two new, shiny PBs. I bagged 1.35 in a monsoon at the Berkhamsted half marathon at the start of the month and then also managed 2.41 in a hungover state at the Gloucester 20. Although I should admit that having never run a 20 mile race before, I’d have got a PB if I’d have walked it…

Those were the ups, but there were also some downs. I contracted a sickness bug which deprived me of a 20 mile training run and also wiped out a week and I’ve also had some of the worst blisters I can remember. And that even includes pre-season football wearing studs on bone hard pitches. With the sickness and the blisters I wasn’t able to do a single piece of speedwork in three weeks or the base training you need to do to support the longer runs.

That said, I do feel like I’m very well prepared though having just completed my longest run to date – 21.75 miles – at the weekend but then I guess I’ll find out in 19, yes 19 (gulp!) days time!

Here’s how March panned out in the world of Wood…

Miles run in the last month = 148

This is way down on what I was supposed to do. This month was supposed to be the peak month, with mileage over 200 but I was simply unable to complete it. I also wanted to get in 5 x 20 mile runs during my training but fell one short of that too.

Time spent running = 20 hours and 7 minutes

I googled 1200 minutes to see if there was anything this equates to, but the first five pages were all price plans for mobile phones, so nothing doing there. Sorry!

Pre-6am starts in the name of running = 4

That’s way down from the 13 last month, and is testament to the fact I’ve had to ditch most of my midweek speed sessions to focus on the long weekend ones.

Night’s out sacrificed = 0

I had a pretty tame month for going out in March, but it’s fair to say I made up for the whole month at the Cheltenham Gold Cup alone…     

Some of the things I’ve learnt this month:

·        Packing the right socks when attempting to run 20 miles is quite possibly the most important thing you can do. As a result, I can vouch that running five miles with a blister on the sole of your foot isn’t much fun. Nor is spending the next two weeks hobbling around and looking for sympathy off of your wife.

·        Running 13.1 miles in a monsoon on a hilly course really isn’t much fun either. Unless you get a PB at the end of it. Then it makes it all worthwhile.

The thank you for good deeds to Ben Wood section

I’ve had a raft of lovely people sponsor me this month, so in no particular order I’d like to say thank you to… 

Fiona, Julius, Helen West, Helen Carty, Nadia, Maeve, Lorna, Sarika, Claire, Adriana, Simone, Lundy, Sophie and Jen, and also my birthday fund from work. I’d also like to say thank you to everyone who is coming along to the quiz night tomorrow – I think there are 63 of you, so I hope you enjoy the evening!

Thank you to each and every one of you, I really appreciate your kind gestures and support. 

A final word that puts all of this nonsense into perspective

It was with great sadness that I received the news that Gareth Hooper, one of the nicest youngsters I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing cricket with, was tragically killed whilst in Brazil last month. As is often the way with the sheer cruelty of these things, Hoops was a young man who had the world at his feet. Not only was he a talented, bright and funny guy with just about everything going for him, he died making a stand for right against wrong which is a real reflection on the type of bloke he was.

Hoops was a key part of our promotion winning 1XI team back in 2006 when he was just a boy. Having finished his school games, he broke into the side and kept wicket with aplomb, freeing up a couple of our other players to concentrate on their batting to get us over the line. He had a level of maturity well beyond his years, and was equally at ease on the pitch or messing about talking cricket, music and travel with a few of us older heads.  

I know I speak for everyone at the club when I say that that we’re all better off for having had the pleasure of knowing Hoops and that he’ll be sorely missed by one and all.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/BenWood2