How was your weekend running?

Well I’ve had a busy old week since we last met here, running friends. First up were the mile relays last Monday evening in Battersea Park, with a couple of Windmiler teammates. The mile race was, as mile races always are, short and sharp and lung hackingly-painful. But more memorably, of all the things I would have expected to find at a race in a London park, I probably wouldn’t have put a large snake high on the list, but you live and learn. Might have run a mile PB again if I’d seen it while actually racing, mind, rather than afterwards …

Then Wednesday night was a 3,000m track race, part of Hercules Athletics 3k festival at my local track. I’ve only ever raced this distance once before, but I think I’ll be seeking it out again – it’s the perfect balance between the lung-gasping bravado of a mile with the slightly more considered pacing needed for a good 5k. In other words, not quite flat out, but fast enough to leave you gasping. I clocked 11:04 which was a massive PB, but definitely off a very soft target from that single previous outing. Still, a PB is a PB, right?

And so to the weekend, where I made my coaching debut for my club at track on Saturday morning (I don’t think anyone was too put off, fingers crossed…) and Sunday, where I got out early for a 90 minute sweatfest in the endless heatwave.

And so, finally, to some news. It was back in February 2013 that I started this blog. Looking back at the very early days, there are some familiar names in the comments (my favourite of which, in the very first post, remains “To be honest, I can’t see this working. I don’t see why anyone would be in the slightest bit interested in reading about someone else’s run.”) But now there are just a few weeks left before I depart these shores. Well, metaphorically speaking, I’m not leaving the country just yet, just the Guardian. So we have just three of these blogs left – including this one – to hang out together. Let’s make them count: please, over the next few weeks, send me your stories. Your favourite ever comments, your most memorable race reports (your own or others) and your stories of the many real life friendships that have, I know, come out of this blog. And don’t forget our Strava group and FB page – yours as much as mine, and another way to stay in touch and keep up to date with everyone’s progress and training.

So, as always, over to you.

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