It's been another good week for my running , no injuries or niggles and the worst thing I have had to do is make myself get out of bed at 5am and wake up in time to run before work . I like the early starts in so much as there is no traffic , and the fumes that go with it, and it sets me up for the day but lately I have been mixing it up a bit by doing one early start then the next day i run aftre work . This strategy seems to be working because I am terrible at getting up in the morning and for some reason it just seems to work and I feel more motivated . On Saturday Tracy took Jack to watch Luton Town so I took Billy to Willen Lake in Milton Keynes (via the Lego Store !!!) so he could have a nice ride on his bike . I decided to walk and we followed two thirds of the MK Parkrun route in reverse . It really is a very pleasant place for a stroll and there is so much going on around the Lake what with the cyclists , walkers , water skiers , the daredevils on the high wires ,climbing and abseiling and of course there are plenty of ducks and geese to feed. We are lucky to have these facilities close by and we will be visiting again soon . This was a good warm up for my long run on Sunday although it didn't get off to a great start becuase I had chosen to eat Kimchi noodles on Saturday for lunch and my stomach wasn't too happy on Sunday morning ! I eventually set off around 7-30am for a nice steady 12 miler along the canal . I really enjoyed the run although in the middle section I felt a bit lethargic . I am glad to have got this run under my belt as I finally signed up for the Luton Half marathon on the 25th and I think I am now ready to tackle this . I know I am not quite ready to aim for a PB but I think I can give it a good go and it will be nice to get at least one more event in this year plus a friend of mine is running this race and we are going to meet up at the start . I did say that I would have to think hard about running this race again after doing the first one two years ago and finding it quite tough as Luton is quite hilly , but the organisers have altered the course significantly and it looks pretty good on paper. lets hope it's good in reality :) I tried to visualise the race while i was doing the long run on Sunday and it helped me focus and forget any aches I may have been feeling in my legs in fact i find if I am feeling like slowing down I try to focus my mind on something good like the next race or how I am going to construct my next blog ! It's a tactic that I often practice and it helps for sure. This week's runs have been dedicated to speed and tonight I ran 3 miles at 5k pace which went really well and i completed it in 22 minutes 42 seconds which is quick for me :) The only fly in the ointment is my rotten wisdom tooth which must be removed tommorow afternoon and means I won't be running over the weekend , although it is taper time for Luton so I don't need to worry too much . Fingers crossed the tooth comes out first go !

Have a great weekend.