Deal or No Deal

  Life in the running world makes you almost like a hypochondriac as every little injury or illness is blown all out of proportion. Take last weekend for instance I was probably not fully recovered from my cold come chest infection, it had only been a week and I was racing and had a sore chest/lungs mid race which lead to me wondering if  whether I was going to get another cold or chest problem. No deal in normal life but a deal in running world as there always seems to be a clock counting down to that all important next race.
  Anyway I did a 2 mile test run on my way to work on Thursday which was an improvement on the last time I did it. The most important point being the fact that my lungs felt much better, not 100% but still it felt good that I was on the mend. Today I did my 5.25km test run on the treadmill. Completed in 15 minutes 59 seconds, a bit of a mad dash to say the least to get under the sixteen minute barrier. Could I of gone faster ? The answer to that is yes. I reckon I could of taken another 5 seconds or so off that time but I was erring on the cautious side to see how the lungs were doing. It appears everything is back to normal and raring to go once again.
   My next big race is the Middlesbrough 5k on June 1st, I say big but in reality it's massive as it will indicate what form I am if I am to compete for a medal at the Masters Championships two weeks after that. No pressure there then.
   It didn't take long for me to blow my race winnings and update some of my running gear. I got myself a new windproof jacket but looking at the weather report for the next few weeks it looks like it's going to be raining or too hot for a jacket. Typical.
    Away from running now, hopefully I will see my football team Preston North End make a good start by beating Rotherham in the promotion playoffs 1st leg. It's about time they got themselves back into the Championship, even more so now that little scratty club up the road from Preston managed to stay in the Championship, The Donkey Thrashers aka Blackpool.