Zest's deputy chief sub editor Katie Teehan kicks off her four weeks of training
Hitting the road after dark
"Anyone want to do this race?" The email offering a place in the Mizuno Reading Half Marathon catches me in a moment of misguided confidence and – without thinking – I volunteer myself. Four weeks to train for 13.1miles? No problem!
That was last week, this is now – or, if you're following Zest's half marathon training plan, day 2 of week 9. Seems like I missed out on a little training there. I've been a runner for five years, but mostly 5 and 10Ks, as injury and lack of commitment ruled me out of longer races. So, four weeks to get from the stage where I can do 10K pretty comfortably (with the promise of a hot bath and a large meal afterwards of course!), to a point where I'll have to run twice that plus another kilometre without passing out, seems more than a little daunting.
But I've already nailed the first week's training – three 40-minute runs and a monster 10-mile slog over the weekend – despite mostly running at night in bitingly cold February weather. And I'm already daydreaming of smug, post-half marathon celebrations after finishing in under two hours (fingers crossed). Plus, the race is on St Patrick's Day – maybe I can kid myself that I'm running for Ireland?
Wish me luck!
