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Bloody hell - it was cold. Minus 4 degrees when I left Stirling to go to the Edinburgh Great Winter Run. Here’s the bad and the good:

Bad:

• I found it hard to get warmed up properly as it was still minus 2 just before the race
• I also find it harder running in the morning (it was 11.30 so technically still the morning)
• Running up a big hill is hard - I have mostly been running on fairly flat roads and this run was a long run up Arthur’s Seat (a steady 2.5K all the way up).
• Frosty air was hurting my lungs towards the top of the hill.
• The start of the race had lots of people bunching together so I found it difficult to find a rythym for the first 2K.
• Not sure on my time (I think it was 31 minutes by my iPod). I will need to check out the champion chip timer online.

 Good:

• Another one in the bag.
• I managed to push myself round, even though it was hurting.
• My son Jamie collects any medals so he was delighted.
• This has set a benchmark for future races.

In general I don’t feel great about yesterday as I felt like I was just ‘trying to get round’. That isn’t a race, it is just a mission. I think I need to change focus and start actually thinking of these things as races rather than milestones. I need to do everything I can to prepare myself in the weeks before a race in order to get the fastest time, not just ‘make it round’.

It is also easy to drop away after achieving a goal like this (for eaxmple, I ate loads of chocolate in the afternoon as a treat. I should have stuck to one chunk!). The important thing to take away from this is to keep up the momentum. I’ll let you know how I get on.

Cheers, Mark