Tonbridge Half Marathon this Sunday....

I'm all charged up and ready to go for this Sunday's very first Tonbridge Half Marathon. It's also my very first.  I said jokingly a few months ago that I didn't want to peak too early. That was a joke to excuse my laziness in getting started with training but actually it's proved quite good advice to myself. If we allow for a lack of time, injuries to my calf muscles, work commitments and all those other excuses then I reckon I've got the training about right. The trouble is the unknown bit. You see I've walked 13 and more miles lots of times but I've still never ran it. I've taken what seems to be the majority view that you should train regularly up to 9 or 10 miles for this distance but no need to train to the full distance. The excitement of the day will, so they tell me, carry me through to the finish line. Here's hoping so! I see from the list of runners and riders on the official THM web site that there are adrenalin junkies coming from all over the South East for the event. Many from parts of London, some from Brighton and at least one from Scotland. I hope they all enjoy glimpses of the countryside in the Garden of England as they whiz by. I'll be taking my time and just hoping for no injuries; a time of sub 2hrs and I'll be absolutely delighted for a first time out. To put that in perspective, Dame Kelly Holmes, were she to compete, would probably come in around the hour and ten mins mark, Paula Radcliffe, would be pushing for under an hour and Mo Farah would probably have finished before most of us had even got into our stride! But then they are the absolute cream of elite athletes and they do train twice a day six days a week!...