MV60

Six months between blog posts is not exactly "keeping it current".....

The running has been going pretty well in 2015. I haven't reached the dizzy, and exhausting, heights of 2012, but that was never the aim really. That is assuming there ever really was an aim, other than to "keep on keeping on".

On October 8th 2015, I became an MV60.
This is a significant milestone in a running "career" and I had spurred myself on with the hope that I could qualify for the Boston Marathon 2017, by running a "BQ" in the qualifying period which started in mid September 2015.  The first attempt at this was due to be at the Isle of Wight Marathon on October 11th, or alternatively Dartmoor Vale on October 25th.

Truthfully I do think I am in the shape to have a serious attempt at this, but am mindful that (a) conditions would have to be perfect, and (b) anything but a slightly undulating course would probably wreck my knees. Neither of the two marathons above really offered the chance of either, and I finally decided to switch priorities.

A major life move this autumn became the decisive influence in this, with Debbie, myself and Cocoa the spaniel uprooting ourselves from Buckinghamshire and re-planting ourselves on the northern edge of the Dartmoor National Park in Devon. We are currently just over 2 weeks in to a new adventurous phase in our lives, and coming to grips with life in a 17th century cottage in a conservation village, far away from any geographical roots either of us may have.

From a running perspective, everything changes, as I now have the vast expanse of the Dartmoor National Park quite literally on my doorstep. There are no flat roads around here, let alone the moor itself. A 6 mile run out on the moor involves a "safety" pack, rocks, bogs, streams to jump, sheep, cows, ponies, Tors, sudden changes in weather and views to stop you dead in your tracks. Somehow pace and form really no longer matter. Persistence and the ability to master the terrain, particularly downhill and with tired legs become the virtues here. I've already had real fun out there within 3 miles of home and almost certainly the moor will be where I set myself some running objectives over the coming months.

More to follow...

Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy