So sometimes I actually go running

This weekend just gone was one of those rare weekends when I actually got my running shoes on two days in a row! It is indeed worthy of an exclamation mark because in the world of a busy Dad it always feels a little wrong to use up so much weekend time on yourself. The first run was a pacey affair with my training buddy because as it turns out whilst I have suffered various illnesses he has managed a very consistent weekly mileage 'commuting' to and from his work. It was good to both crack on at a decent pace, and better still to share a bunch of gossip. We completed 8.35 km in a couple of minutes over three quarters of an hour.

"Feet Of Runner In Evening Light" - Image courtesy of Sura Nualpradid [www.freedigitalphotos.net]

Now it is here that I will reveal my latest mad-cap scheme - as you might notice I quoted my run distance in kilometres (km) just there, and so it will be for some months to come if my plan works out. My big goal for the year is the Berlin Marathon and there is no getting around the fact that they are wholly metric and use kilometres... so I am trying to give myself enough time to grasp the min/km pacing, and splits for various points on the course in the correct measures. It is a simple plan to move into kilometres, although I have rarely judged my shambling pace in anything other than min/mile. The nice thing is that 10 min/mile becomes a much smaller number in min/km, the not so nice thing of it is that the distance goes from 26.1 units (miles) to 42.2 units (kilometres)... I only hope that because the numbers will tick by quicker I'll learn to like the change.

The second run of the weekend was my long run (which I paced for the last time in min/mile), which covered 18.5 km (or 11.5 miles). I was suitably tired after an easy effort run that finished with 20 minutes at race pace at the end... I suddenly had flashbacks to some of the early pain I felt as the wheels feel off during my first marathon. Still it was a beautiful day to be flogging myself around the paths of Cardiff Bay and Cardiff city centre, some say spring is on its way, others groan and say there will be more snow yet. Whatever the weather me and my running shoes will be churning out the training kilometres in the weeks ahead - only 11 weeks now until the Milton Keynes marathon the first major stepping stone towards my Berlin run.

Diary - everything is busy though I am feeling out of sorts with things at times, which has left me even more grateful that I get to run and clear my head. My book binge continues a pace, more reviews in the pipeline I think.