It's all in the mind! by richwork1

I took the plunge, I've signed up for the 2010 Rotterdam marathon! Living in England I forget how easy it is to get into marathons in Europe, simply log on the their site, fill out the form, pay the entrance fee - BOSH! You're in! I was planning on running London next year but unfortunately I missed the ballot, I guess like many runners this year I didn't realise the ballot entry deadline had been shortened this year. So what followed was the rather lengthy process of applying for a golden bond place. I was offered a place but it required a "deposit" of £200. I decided against it.

I've ran London before, back in 2006, and it's an amazing race that I'd dearly love to take part in again but I have a sneaking suspicion that I might get a better time in Rotterdam. The thing with London is that there are so many runners that for the first six miles you can forget about you planned race pace, I didn't run a single mile at my planned pace until I got to Surrey Quays. There is some advantage to this, particularly if your are a first time runner, the slow early pace sets you up nicely for the rest of the race, consequently I felt terrifically fresh as I crossed Tower bridge. But my target time was three and a half hours and while I managed to make it around in 3:38:52 (you never forget your Marathon finishing times, they are etched into my brain) I was slightly disappointed that I didn't make up for those early lost minutes.

The good thing about those lost 8 minutes of London 2006 is that I feel more than able to knock that time off. While at the moment training is something of a struggle, I know that three months down the line I'll be a better runner, that I will be putting the miles (or rather, kilometres!) in and hopefully feeling fresh.

Reading about Rotterdam and looking at the photo's, it seems less crowded than London and while the FLM isn't very hilly, Rotterdam is famously flat and fast. I'd like to run it faster than 3:30, my long term dream is to break three hours and I think running under three and a half hours would be a terrific psychological boost.