Good Times................

Sunday Gang, Rob, Ian, Andy, Arwel, David and Me!

I think that the whole running scene at the moment is about to undergo a unique transformation. Over the past 30 years, we have seen a massive expansion of 'fun running' with marathon's such as London and New York seeing entries in excess of 30,000. 10km fun runs see huge entries too and race for life entries are on the increase. So what does this mean for the club runner. Well the truth is, that club runner's appear to be abandoning the fun events and returning to participate in smaller, performance focus races where jostling for a good position is an un-necessary evil. I wonder though if this will be the case in May, when, following three months of intensive training  will see me line up on the start line in the Forest of Dean, for the 50km trial race for the Welsh commonwealth team. Restricted to a mere 100 runners, the trial race sees a circuit of 6 laps repeated for the duration of the race. Whilst I look ahead with a great deal of apprehension, I also cannot wait to run it. My biggest fear though is the un-know. Will I be able to maintain a pace of about 8 minutes per mile for over four and a half hours? On the positive side, my training appears to be going well and I am enjoying a few runs every week with Gary Rees-Williams and my other mates....members of the Sunday gang. The Sunday gang, is an informal gathering of talented individuals. It includes several runners who have represented their countries at international level and runners of lesser achievement but no less talented. The informality or the gang epitomises what I yearn......just a group of friends out for a run and socialising afterwards with good food and company. I suppose I am lucky to be among friends like this and I would like to thank them for the good times........I love to run!