Inspired by people’s achievements at a particularly tough London Marathon, and encouraged by my own performance at Manchester last month, I’ve started to look at the possibility of squeezing in another big event before Snowdonia.

There isn’t that much to choose from over the summer months in terms of road marathons (not quite ready to venture out on the trails just yet!), but Gloucester has caught my eye.  For a start, the date works – early August (5th) would give me 14 weeks to train, which I’d say is plenty given how recent my Manchester programme was.

The other reason it appeals is proximity – only about 90 minutes’ drive away on a good day (not that you get many of those on the M5), although annoyingly it’s one of those races that requires expo registration the day before, meaning a stop-over is probably on the cards.

As with Manchester, I think I’ll take on the training for a month or so before committing and see how my body responds.  There are no causes for concern at the moment regarding injuries.  

I took a week off after Manchester, only to find myself really tightening up after three or four days of rest. However, a few gentle recovery runs soon dealt with that and I’m back up to 10k distance already without any obvious twinges or niggles.  No damage done, it would seem.  I’m so relieved, because last year it reached a point where I thought that wretched torn thigh muscle was never going to heal.

Also tempting me at the moment is next year’s Brighton marathon.  My brother has bitten the bullet and registered and, being the organised sort he is, already found accommodation for both the Friday and Saturday nights right in the city centre which I could share.

I’ve read mixed reviews about this one – parts of the route, for example, being less than inspiring (power stations et al), but also some gripes over the organisation of the event.  Not enough water, congestion at the start and finish and so on.  I know there’s no such thing as a perfect marathon, but given that many fellow Buzzers have tackled this one, what would you say?  Worth it, or over-hyped?

Then of course there’s London 2019.  Yep, I’m in the ballot like many hundreds of thousands of others.  I hold little hope of getting a place and am not ready to take on another fundraising drive as per 2015 when I ran for charity.  Still, if that proves to be my only London outing I can remain satisfied that I got to experience a truly special race.  And it was my marathon debut – treasured memories indeed.

What else is new?  Well, I’ve got two 10k races coming up in May – Silverstone next week, then the Vitality 10,000 in London.  Surely one of those has got to be good for an assault on my PB?  45:47 is the benchmark, set a couple of years ago.

And finally I can confirm I’ve pulled my finger out and booked accommodation for the Snowdonia weekend.  As suspected, the local hotels seem to have long-since sold out, but I tracked down a room via Airbnb for a pretty reasonable £50 a night. 

It’s a short walk from Llanberis High Street and, according to the reviews, was used by a runner for exactly the same purpose last year.  So now I can enjoy the social side to Snowdon as well as the physical challenge of the marathon.  If only it wasn’t so long to wait!

So that’s me.  A potentially busy few months ahead, regardless of whether or not I decide to take on a third marathon.  What do you think?  Too much for one year?  Am I risking scuppering Snowdon by training heavily over the summer?

Let me know your thoughts, before I get twitchy fingers and click on that oh-so-inviting ‘enter’ button!