There are now only 15 weeks to go until the London Marathon 2013, so serious training starts today.
My schedule has been slightly disrupted by illness just before Christmas and just after New Year which messed up over two weeks of training, but I'm hoping that I can pretty much pick up where I expected to be.
So, this week I have about 33 miles scheduled over 5 sessions including running 3 miles in 21 minutes on Wednesday and then hopefully a 13 mile long run on Friday or Saturday.
Also I will be eating no more chocolate, biscuits, or crisps for the next 15 weeks.
Am I nervous? A little. According to my schedule I'll be running about 17 miles in 5 weeks time. Knowing how I felt after 10 miles on Saturday there is always the fear of the constant risk of injury.
Do I have a target - other than just getting round? Yes. Sub 4 hours - ideally 3:45.
Now you know. I'll update you each week on my progress - and if you see me eating chocolate...
On Sunday morning we used a few of my Christmas presents to think about some of the small things we can do in 2013 that have the potential to make a big difference. Here's the first present.
Now it might just look like a bolt - but of course that would not make a very exciting Christmas present. This is in fact a magnetic geocache. It unscrews to reveal a hidden log book inside.
What is it for? The is a geocache for me to hide somewhere - as I mentioned it is magnetic - for others to find and log their visit. There are millions of geocaches hidden all over the planet - there are about 50 hidden within 2 miles of the church. But most people do not know they are there and so they just walk by day after day. But for those who geocache these things are there waiting to be found.
[If you want to find out a bit more about geocaching read this post].
I'm sure that lots of us walk around every day and we miss so much simply because we're not looking for it, or because we're going too fast, or because we're being distracted by something else. And I expect that lots of us miss the things that God is doing.
So maybe in 2013 we need to slow down a bit and keep our eyes open a little more and be on the look out for what God is doing. This may simply be something incredible or beautiful in creation - a spider's web covered in dew on your walk to school in the morning. Something that just causes us to pause - to say 'wow' - and to thank God for his creation.
I know it is a few days late - but happy New Year. Check back tomorrow and we'll start thinking about small things we can do that could make a big difference for 2013.
There are now only 15 weeks to go until the London Marathon 2013, so serious training starts today.
