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After declaring myself over the plague weakness last week I got it again the next day. I’ve been three days clear now. Ran for the last 5 days, with a beast of a run today, and I’m feeling fine. I really, really, hope that’s it.

My plan said an easy 17 miles today. I decided to up the ante a little and do 17 miles with hills. I’ve found a great hill. It’s 4 miles to get there, then laps of it to make up the extra miles. Plus we are in the middle of Storm Isha or something and it’s blowing a gale. All in all, a challenging run.

I got it done, it’s nearly 23.00 and I’m still fine on the plague weakness front. Surely that’s it for this bout?

Yesterday I woke up with a sore throat and it felt like it was on my chest. I felt a bit rough and weak. But it wasn’t the plague weakness. Somehow there are different degrees of weakness. The plague weakness is just awful, it wastes you. A normal lurgy weakness is just feeling weak. I forced myself out of the door for a 7 mile run and got better as the day went on.

This morning I woke up at 04.40 and couldn’t get back to sleep. It had been snowing a bit overnight and it was fair brisk so I didn’t want to get out of bed, but I gave up and got up about 05.00 to get ready for my long run. I didn’t feel lurgy-ed and didn’t feel plague weak. I was out of the door before 06.00. The plan said I was to do an easy paced 16 miles so I followed my usual route along the canal. It turns out 2 hours before dawn, on an unlit path under trees, you can’t see jack. Who knew? I had to divert and do a road run.

I got it done without any problems.

I put it off for a long time, but I finally cracked. My bike, the CBR650F, is fine. It does lots of things well, but I was never happy happy with it. I like it, it’s pretty, modern, and reliable, but there was no spark of passion there. As is my way I started idly perusing motorbikes. It soon became apparent that what I really wanted was a VFR750. I’ve had loads of them and they are just about the perfect all rounder.

They are not under powered, they are not so fast as to be unusable, they handle brilliantly, they have a massively over engineered engine that makes them bulletproof, they are comfy… The only thing wrong with them is they are old, have carburetors, and the styling is a smidge dated. If Honda made a new model with fuel injection I would pay top dollar for it. Honda lost sight of their “sports tourer” designation with the VFR800. I’ve only had one, but it was a bloated bike that, although it had more power and speed, felt lost in the corners.

The VFR750 I got last year was old and worn out. It took the shine off the love affair. That’s why I got a modern (2017) bike that, according to the reviews “could serve as a sports tourer”. It’s OK, but it’s no VFR750.

We made it through another xmas. The rest of the year is gravy now.

I’m on countdown to Blackpool marathon now. Because I have Sunday/ Monday as my weekend I do my long run on Monday then have Tuesday as my rest day. Which means I’ll be starting my 16 week training plan properly on Wednesday.

Today I went for a long run. I wanted to run to Carr Mill Dam then back to Widnes. A full circuit of the two ends of the canal. It’s about 31 miles. Because it was New Year’s day, a Monday when everyone was off, full of mince pie lardiness and fitness resolutions, it was heaving. I had to stop a few times, slow down a bunch of times and weave in and out of herds of ambling pedestrians waddling along. That didn’t improve the run, but I was suffering. It was slutchy underfoot, and I was wearing un-plated, ploddy, trainers, but that’s no excuse. I lost my mojo after the Carr Mill Dam loop and didn’t do the other loop. I ended doing a 20 mile run at 8.29m/m average pace. It shouldn’t have been so hard or painful. Worrying. I’ve been having calf cramps and pains in the back of my quads on the runs lately. I’m wondering if running is mainly a quad based activity. I’ve not been cycling for a year now, and my calves are playing up. I suppose I’m going to have to set up my turbo trainer again. Maybe start cycling to work. It’s only 2.2 miles each way, but it’s better than nothing. Maybe sell my motorbike.

I saw a random tweet saying it was the last day to enter the ballot for the Berlin marathon, so on a whim I thought I’d give it a go. It’s one I fancy and the Good For Age (GFA) qualifying time is ridiculously tough. Most other marathons have it in 5 year brackets, so I’d be in 55-59 year old bracket, which for London is 3.20, and for Boston it’s a leisurely 3.25 for us old dodders (so I already qualify with my 3.17 PB). Berlin GFA is 45-59 year old (!) 2.55! I was planning on waiting until I qualify for Berlin GFA, to earn a place, but that’s a long wait for a train that ain’t coming. So I entered the draw.

Nope. Sorry you were unsuccessful this time. It was a long shot. They have something like ten times more applications than they have places.

That got me thinking about marathons I’d like to do. I read a Runner’s World article on the fastest marathons in the world.