A new goal...

I have a new goal on the horizon, on 22nd July, I will be running with friend Brian, as team 'Running OK in the UK' at the Love life, love running festival and we will be taking on the 6 hour challenge!

We will be heading away for a  weekend away in Staffordshire, at the national park of Cannock Chase.

The festival is in it's 3rd year, but I only heard about it through the running community on Twitter. The festival sounds family orientated, but I've decided to leave my family behind this year to see what it is like, but if a success I may return with them next year.

Anyhow this time round it's a bit of 'me' time and I am really looking forward to the weekend. The 6 hour challenge takes place on the Sunday and will involve Brian and myself taking turns in running a 7K (4.23 mile) lap for 6 hours. As the website states, you can make this as easy or as hard as you wish. We are entering as a pair but you can choose to run this in a team of up to 6 members, or even solo.

The course record is 13 laps, I'm not sure we'll be breaking any records but a weekend away dedicated to running is good for me, and it sounds like a few of the Twitter running community are taking part so it will be a chance to see some faces.

My training has become a little lethargic since the London marathon, although I have put in some decent runs along the canal to work and over the ranges on the undulating trails. But a new challenge is a great way to freshen up things and Brian has come up with a plan to get us match fit. I'm not lacking in endurance since marathon training but my speed has dropped right away and I need a bit of that back for this event.

I went for a 3.5 mile run today and managed to get my min/mile pace back in the 7 minutes. Anything starting with a 7 for pace is good for me. Tomorrow we will be running 3 times to help get the body used to a run,rest,run,rest format which is what we will be doing come race day. We will run 6 miles before work. 4 miles at lunch, and then just over 2 miles after work.

The plan for the coming weeks will definitely be concentrating on more short faster runs, with a longer run once a week to keep the endurance up. I've also dusted down the bike and been out on that a couple of times, although I hate cycling I have to admit it is great cross training. I did suffer a puncture yesterday though and as I said on Twitter ' This is why God intended us to run and not cycle #puncture'.