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After expressing my disappointment to Greeny (pictured below) about not being able to run The World’s First Kilomathon, he came up with a suggestion: “Why not train for the Robin Hood half marathon?”

He sure is

After some thought I decided it wasn’t a bad idea.  Part of the reason I was so motivated to get out running before Christmas was to train myself for the kilomathon.  Having an end goal is incredibly motivating, as most coaches will tell you.  As I’ve found already, a vague desire to lose weight isn’t as powerful as setting a target which must be achieved by a certain date.  Oh, hang on, that didn’t really work either.  But the point stands.  So I’m told.

So last week whatshername and I went out for a short jog.  It was only 2.5miles, but it was tough.  I wasn’t knackered or anything, but my knee struggled.  It started off feeling very stiff and awkward, eased up for a while, finally becoming genuinely painful in the final mile or so.  For the next few days it felt uncomfortable.  Never painful; just uncomfortable.

Then this week I thought I’d try again (well, technically speaking it was whatshername’s idea.  I didn’t really want to but thought it seemed like a good idea) and so on Monday night we did the same route.  This time it felt much better.  In fact if anything it felt much stronger.  A couple of days later and it feels fine.  Not great, not good even.  Just fine.

I decided the Robin Hood half marathon seems like a good idea, so naturally I looked on-line for the date.  Sunday September 12^th 2010.  Slight problemo.  That weekend is what we in local cricket parlance call “the double-header weekend” (stop sniggering at the back).  The final two games of the season crammed into 34 hours of sedentary sporting activity, the culmination of nearly five months of standing around in daft white clothing.  League titles could be decided, relegation avoided, or mid-table obscurity secured.  There’s literally all to play for (except the preceding twenty games which will have already been played for and settled).  Literally anything could happen (within certain strict criteria).

Robin Hood, famous of course for running 13 miles around Nottingham at some point

My double-header weekend looks like:

Saturday: Belper Meadows (away)

Sunday: Sawley & Long Eaton Park (home)

Would it be completely ridiculous to squeeze a thirteen-mile run in on Sunday morning?  This is a genuine question.  I have thirty weeks and three days to train myself from ‘obese’ to ‘able to play a cricket match, run a half marathon the following morning, then play another cricket match.’  Is this in any way feasible?

If anyone has run a half marathon before please let me know what you think.  Will I even be able to stand up afterwards?

I have another question too, mainly aimed at anyone with a sports or medical background (and/or experience of sporting injuries): if my knee still doesn’t feel right, should I be trying to exercise and strengthen it, or should I be completely resting it?

"Get up Gaz you're next man in."