Just keep going. (Written at the start of 2020)

Goals.
In just about every walk of life we are encouraged to set, work to, and, hopefully, achieve goals.
There are "outcome goals" and "process goals". If I'm honest with myself, right now in my life, the whole business of setting and working to achieve outcome goals has come down to my running. Whilst I haven't exactly messed up the other stuff, I have certainly slipped into a comfort zone for 15 years or so. A bit of an underachiever with a happy family life who won't be able to retire in comfort.
Maybe I'll write a book that sells millions. Or, like the last one, maybe it will remain "just an idea" with the first few chapters lost on a hard drive of a defunct laptop.
I'd like to think my running isn't like that.

My last blog post in September 2019 left me about to take on a road half marathon for the first time since The Great West Run in October 2016. The prosaic sounding Jewson Barnstaple Half Marathon took place on a wet and windy Sunday at the end of the month, and I had set myself an apparently arbitrary target of 1:45. On the day, I knew the race would split neatly into two halves, a headwind for the "out" and a tailwind for the "back", so I didn't push too hard for the first 7 miles, happy to average about 10 to 15 seconds slower than the 4:59 x km average pace I would need. Not able to quite drag it back I finished strongly in 1:46:48.

I had toyed with the idea of another race in Switzerland in October after the particularly positive experiences of 2018 and 2019. The Napf Marathon, mainly on gravel roads in the Emmenthal, had caught my eye, but in the end I opted for a hilly trail / road marathon in Cornwall at the Eden Project. Once again the weather gods were unkind: days of rain prior to the race and then regular downpours as we got ready for the start. It was a helter skelter start downhill on public roads for 2 miles, before a sharp about turn and a long trail section up a valley. Road and muddy trail alternated throughout the course. The roads were relentlessly 'undulating', we hit some immense deep puddles on one section of trail and we also had to hands and knees climb a Tor at eleven miles. But it was pretty joyous stuff. The aid stations run by St Austell running club were full of snacks and encouragement, including a banner at 16 miles that said "Never trust a fart after 13 miles". The last couple of miles were sharply downhill on tarmac deep into the heart of the Eden Project, and the old knees were starting to take a battering as I spotted Debbie and Cocoa giving encouragement about 100 metres from the finish. Unfortunately Cocoa saw his opportunity to join me and danced out in front of me on his extending lead. They make excellent tripwires when taut you know. And before I knew it there I was sliding on tarmac to the gasps of the crowd. I just managed to get up and jog to the tape to avoid the onrushing paramedics. Mirth all round. My 4 hours 30 odd was good enough for an MV60 win, a free can of Tribute and a pasty. A pretty good way to end the racing season.

Seconds before the tumble

That meant it was pretty much time to back off from "training" as the nights drew in, the wet stuff came back to Dartmoor, and those niggles that all runners ignore for months on end really do need a bit of rest.

So I coasted to the end of 2019. Yet again it had been quite a running year, with plenty of goals achieved, the odd age group win, and something to look forward to in 2020. What's that? well, a change of age category from MV60 to MV65 coming up meant extra minutes on qualifying times for the Major World Marathons. BQ maybe?

So I entered the Zurich Marathon for April 2020. Now what could possibly happen to disrupt that?

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