Challenge and Adventure in 2014
It is a New Year which promises to be full of challenge and adventure. I am excited and hope that you are too.
Just to quickly recap on the past few months:
In early November I returned to the international racing scene in New York at the NYRR ‘5K Dash’. Staged the day before the New York City Marathon it was an inspiring race covering part of the marathon route and with the same dramatic uphill finishing straight. Two months back in training and with a conservative start, I was pleased to finish fifth in 15:50, just a couple of seconds behind Sally Kipyego. The next day I was able to experience the vibrant marathon atmosphere first hand and support friend and pre-Olympic training buddy Sabrina Mockenhaupt.
In early December I put on a British vest and took to the mud at the European Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. It was enjoyable to race for the team again and having suffered seasonal colds for much of the preceding month my performance well reflected my preparation in training. It would have been nice to be a little more ‘in the mix’, but that is for another occasion. We raced to team gold and it was uplifting to stand on the top of the podium as we had done two years ago.
So, now it is January 2014 and I am back in Ethiopia training at 2700m altitude. I arrived almost four weeks ago and am glad to say that I am feeling slightly more in control in this breathtaking atmosphere than previously. At this time of year it is so important for me to put in a big block of base training and I just cannot think of a better place to be. I am surrounded by some of the World’s best endurance runners, the climate is perfect for training, the landscape vast and endless in running possibilities.
I had better log off now, there are two hours of running on the schedule for tomorrow! More soon.