That is the plan, finally cleared the house of all its Christmas temptations and got back to a good clean diet again. This coupled with my regular Doctor issuing me with NSAID suppositories my UC/Proctics as abated some bit. On the first week I went for one of those talk to myself runs to try and maybe set a goal or target for the year. Its probably something that has been lacking since I ran Seville last February. Okay their is a goal in completing 50 Marathons (24 more) before my 50th Birthday in August 2016. While it is a challenge in itself, in my opinion it doesn't require me to push on to the next level. Really all it requires is that I stay injury free and get the job done. I had looked at tackling the shorter stuff but the faster interval training does leave me open to injuries. To other option is to go longer, I am kind of flirting with the idea of racing 50K in Portumna in June, not fully committed to it yet but a crack at a sub 4 Hour 50K would fit the bill of giving me a goal for the next few months.
Baseline Test
With this in mind I decided to run a Hadd Test just to get an idea at what level my fitness was at. The results showed that I had lost a small bit in comparison to where I was the last time I ran one. The lower/aerobic running was giving me 740 BPM/KM over 2K. Last year I was lower at 710 BPM/KM but I am now 7 lbs heavier. So all in all I feel a little more concentration on steady/ high end aerobic together with keeping my hand out of the cookie jar should leave me in shape come the end of February to consider having a go at a 4 Hour 50K
Loving the Trees
After seeing my workload for January, my intention of running MCI Marathon in Liliput was gone leaving me with the 3 hour drive to the sunny south east. Luckily I had some in car entertainment to shorten the journey in the form of Mr Enright. Oilgate been our destination for the day and Marie Chapman our host as Race Director with the ever reliable Vincent lending a helping hand. Great to catch up with the usual few and 60 or so runners took on a five 5.25 Mile laps for the Day. 
Each lap had a downhill start with a gradual climb back to the main road, and the obligatory tree hug halfway. The first lap fly by in the company of Tom and Paul, I didn't even notice the climb. Lap 2 saw the standard pit stop, but thankfully it was the only one of the day. Lap 3 things where a bit tougher but for the third Marathon in a row I finished much stronger. Lap 4 I put in some 7:30 miles to catch up with Paul after some running repairs with footwear, and on the final lap I was pretty much feeling very strong and able to keep the pace up to come home in sub 3:57.
Words to the Wise
Meet Thomas afterwards and I queried him re what type of mileage running will he do in preparation for 24 Hour Championship in Turin. His answer while vague is a pretty sound philosophy that everyone should bear in mind with regard to running and training. “I will run whatever mileage my body can recovery from”. Afterwards the usual presentations say Gillian and Oggie Winters received their 100 Marathon awards as well as a special award for Brenda M O’Keeffe to mark her record for most Marathons 74 in a calendar year for a Female. Clearly these guys have much better recovery ability then my old body.
