disappointment at swindon

one of the first rules of running a pb in any race is that you must finish the race. that unfortunately rules me out completely, having dropped out of todays swindon half marathon. having started quite well, i managed to stay with the lead group for the first couple of miles before the problems set in. firstly my legs were tightening up and every time i slowed to accomodate for this problem they just seemed to tighten up some more. maybe it was an effect of over training, maybe it was some other problem. having got a lift back to the start i queued to get a massage done, i think i got closer to the route of the problem.

"no wonder you dropped out with legs like this" said the massager.

"why?" i asked

"theres massive knots all over the place, no wonder they felt so bad. its a cumulative effect of not warming up and down properly and not stretching properly over the years". so i think i'm getting close to the root of the problem. getting more massages done would help as well as that helps to iron out any potential problems. the one problem with that though is that it is almost impossible to massage yourself. meaning that the cost is rather extortonate."

the fact that things have gone wrong both times i have competed in half marathons tells me quite clearly that i am just not ready for them yet. while my 10k times are coming down every time i do one, that half marathon time of mine remains a real blot on my copy book. lesson learnt i feel.

on the positive note though there is a prom run on thursday night down at weston super mare a 5 mile road race on a course that i like and is always fast whenever i run it. a pb would go down well but i have a perfect record of having pb'd every time i've run the course at weston. finally i can't go without mentioning the rugby last night...after being writen off by every man and his dog at the start of the tournament, england are in the final of the rugby world cup and look as though they are coming in to a bit of form at the right time. even if we win on saturday, i still don't think that this england team is as good as the team that won 4 years ago, but it isn't performances that count, it's results and i would take a 3-0 if it was offered to me now, whether it is south africa or the argies and i don't care which as i think we have an equal chance against either team.

i'm supposed to be training tomorrow night with mikes group, but don't think i will be as i feel tired and jaded as a result of not having slept properly. and if i am to race on thursday i will need to rest. on the other hand it might be the perfect confidence booster for me and i suppose it would help me todecide whether or not the problems i had today are a long term thing or just a result of having got out of bed the wrong side, metaphorically speaking. we shall see what we shall see.....