I Drink, therefore I Run

A quieter week on the running front - for me - as I dropped my Long run on Sunday. Today's post has to be all about the excellent London Marathon. I was spectating this time, watching from about mile 24.5 on the Embankment. I am always truly awestruck by the marathon - what a great event, and one that is, almost without question, about everything that is good in the world - personal endeavour, charity and happiness. What, to use the phrase, is not to like? I had the pleasure of cheering on several friends who took part, as well as the 30 runners for PDSA. Wine of the week was pretty awesome too - Chianti Classico Riserva 1999, Casa Sola . Richly, brambly/cherry nose, utterly silky palate, soft and with plenty of body, and such length on the palate. As Janet said - makes you wonder why people are so down on Chianti. I must agree!

Highest miles yet recorded during the training phase. Long run not quite as good as last week, however, still a credible effort of 22 miles at 7.31 pace. I have to watch out for over-training, and not to leave my best race 'on the road' as they say. I did love the Spring weather,which makes such a difference to the running experience. Here's a photo of the Test Way - the old train line between Romsey and Stockbridge, a victim of Beeching, now a great 10 mile trail (or 20 if you go both ways as I did!) Wine of the week has to be Rosso di Montalcino 2008, Camigliano. Not so much for the wine, though that was absolutely lovely, toffee and caramel flavours on a bed of succulent cherries. No, it is wine of the week for the glorious back label, which says (..and I am translating here from Italian so be impressed, please!).."A wine for every occasion in the week. It is the wine for every day, above all in the evening, at home, in the moment of relaxing, after an intense day

A great week's running - really great. Topped off nicely with a strong long run at the weekend, just under 23 miles, and at an average 7.30 pace, with a very consistent pace throughout between 7.15 and 7.45. As it wasn't flat, this is especially good. I reckon that the Maidenhead 10 is starting to 'come into the legs' as they say. If I can have three more weeks like this, and then taper well, I will be as well set up as I could wish to be for Edinburgh. Running related of a sort - and a bit of a rant, kicked off by reading an article on-line. It was, I am saddened to say, from the Daily Mail, which is guaranteed to raise anyone's blood pressure, however I came to it via the BBC website, and there were several other stories in a similar vein, so there is a theme here. The first line was "Women run marathons to keep their weight down, but men sign up for the competition, according to research". Nothing wrong with that, you might think - however, consider the

What a great week for both running and wine. Although the mileage was not spectacular, that is because I was resting before running the Maidenhead 10-miler at the weekend. Whilst I was not initially enamoured with the idea of an early get-up on Good Friday, on account of a 9.30 start and a 90 minute drive, I cracked open some pumping tracks whilst blasting up a pleasingly crowd free M4, and got very much in the mood! The day was one of pleasing things, such as the excellent macchiato doppio created by the man at the Costa Coffee at Winchester services. Then, on arrival, I was greeted by a runner I had met at a previous race - most impressed he remembered me. Really great. And then, to top it all, I knocked off a personal best of over 3 minutes, coming in at 66mins 37 secs, a great time on what was not a pancake flat course as promised. All in all a very good one, and not too pooped when I got home. Saturday brought what is not wine of the week, but, for once, wine venue of the week, w