13.1

So, the training for the Nottingham Half Marathon went something like this:

Time to event: 6 months plus

• Discuss idea with Mrs A and convince her it's a great idea.
• Create training plan

Time to event: 3 months

• Congratulate Mrs A on her continued steady 3-4 times a week runs.
• Accept that original plan has been totally ignored.
• Create new training plan based around new, shorter time to event.

Time to event: 1 month

• Congratulate Mrs A on her continued steady 3-4 times a week runs.
• Accept that revised plan has been totally ignored.
• Decide to do one 10 mile run and, if that goes well, stop worrying about not having done any training. At all.

Time to event: 1 week

• Congratulate Mrs A on her continued steady 3-4 times a week runs.
• Accept that 10 mile run hasn't happened.
• Think about carb-loading plan
• Find trainers.

Time to event: 2 days

• Go out on a works night out for a couple of colleagues who are leaving.
• Get involved in numerous drinking games.
• Roll home at 1:30am in the morning.

Time to event: 1 day

• Deal with monstrous hangover.

And so, on the day of the event I stood on the startline with my beautiful wife. She was well prepared but nervous. I was horribly unprepared, untrained, non-carb-loaded, dehydrated but unrealistically optimistic. 

A few miles, a few hours and a few painful joints later a cheerful kid in combat fatigues standing just behind the finish line gave Mrs A and myself one of these each:

We also got a customary post-race bag of tat, but I ate the only things worth taking a photo of.

Was it worth the pain on the day? Absolutely.

Will we be doing it again any time soon? Not a chance.

NDC