It's on

January 25th - Absolutely shattered today after the 50kms of running in the weekend. Could barely get out of bed and hence stayed in bed till 8am. Consequently was running late for work and missed bus so caught overland and tube, made it to my desk by 9:02am though.
After Saturday's 5km TT and 15 kms of other running, was a little sore but still was up for another long run. Ended up going to bed a little late Saturday night after 45 minute chat to Zach and then another 45 mins to Mark, so didn't hit the pillow till about 2am. I woke at about 9:30am, and contemplated sleeping in longer but instead put on some tennis, Henin v Wickmayer, was pretty good. Got up and moving around 10am, coffee and cereal and then out the door at 11am. Not to cold so ditched the gloves for the first time in a while. First few kms tough as always running up Lavender Hill, in fact the whole journey to Richmond feels up hill! Made it to the park in 35:17 which was fairly decent, and legs started to free up a bit. Better run than last week around the park, a few new tunes on the Ipod to change the vibe and after week of no drinking had renewed energy! Once again I think I missed a turn though, and did the full loop in 48 minutes or so. Pretty comfortable the whole way round, then headed home which is great, the nice long downhill West Hill. Since was going to be under 2 hours decided to do a loop of Clapham Common to pad it out a bit. Plenty of gas in the tank at the end but the legs were definitely seizing up a bit. Another 30kms or so, to make it about 125kms in 8 days - most since 2006, and great feeling! Forest is back motherfucker! 3 years, hard to believe but I have well and truly found the zest, motivation and drive to launch a full scale assault first of all on Mark's time at Rotterdam, then assail my 2:40 in Berlin -September 26th will hopefully crush 2:40 and maybe get down towards low 2:30s.

Home and shower then straight over to Blair's for a roast dinner at the Dove, shared a whole chicken with Blair was great. Then home to watch a movie Lake Tahoe, not bad, Spanish movie about a guy who has lost his father. Quaint and perfect for a Sunday night. Liz bounced up and down on the Swiss ball and seems to have done the trick as currently in labour. Amazing to think that in a few hours will be a new life on this earth. Hope all goes well and it is over quickly!

Tonight finally made it down to Clapham Chasers, and an important day for my running career. Was almost too late after waiting for bus, but got there with plenty of time in the end down to Nuttfield gym. About 70-80 people down there, a really good buzz and immediate good impression. Fast group had about 30 in it, really decent pace but could feel tightness in calves halfway round, settled down by the end though. OVerall 46 mins, I'd say around 10kms was a decent Monday effort. Had a chat to Neil about other training sessions, tracks sessions on Tuesday and fartlek type stuff on the Wednesday. My next 5 months just fell into place to coincide with my saving mission. And not a moment to soon. The booze hag is dead, bring on Rotterdam. Yeah baby.