The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men.

[Shake-and-run]

When I was training as a long distance equestrian I loved the excitement of receiving the schedule of events, thinking about what to enter and devising training programme to get the horse and me to the peek of fitness in that start box. However you could guarantee that as soon as an entry was in the post (no online stuff in my day) the horse would limp into the yard as lame as a cat. Replies to questions like 'are you going to The Red Dragon this year' were often hedged with 'may be' and 'we'll see how it goes'. It was as if to commit to anything would tempt fate. It seems to me that the same is true of running.

My training plan for the Stratford Half is now in week 8. Just over half way. Running RED FEB has been tough, but with 96.9kms (I know - I wasn't counting!!) in the bag, it is done and dusted and a RED-FEB medal is secured. All the numbers on Strava and Garmin tell me it has made me fitter even if I do feel rather exhausted and have rather sore calves. Now it is time to ramp up the long runs and enjoy a few rest days as well.

The Stratford half was important for several reasons. I can walk from home so no pressure getting to the start; it has a reasonably flat course that I am familiar with; it has a 6 hour cut off so no time pressure and it has a Shakespeare quote on the medal. In addition it doesn't interfere with my summer of cycling as it is over by the end of April and I can then switch my efforts into riding my bike and preparing for the London to Brighton Sportive in June. So when I got the email this week to say The Stratford Marathon and Half were cancelled I was extremely disappointed. I looked at other Half Marathons but they are either miles away or in May, no good to me. I thought about delaying until Autumn but that would mean a summer training plan and that won't wok for me either.

Thankfully I have some amazing friends and mentors in TailChaser and Katnap and we had a chat about options. I now have a new plan. My half could be the same weekend as originally planned (although may be on the Friday or Saturday), the route will be adapted (trying to run through Stratford on Shakespeare's Birthday without closed roads is tad silly) and the only ones doing it will be me and Tailchaser (and may be Katnap too).

Robert Burns in his 1795 poem 'To a Mouse' was reflecting mournfully on the role of fate in the life of every creature. I think we can be a little more optimistic than that. I give you George Herbert's 1640 book 'Jacula Prudentusm' and the quote 'to him that will, ways are not wanting' (disputed to be the origin of the proverb ' Where there's a will, there's a way'). But I will still keep my fingers crossed just in case.

[Dexy5 10 Miles]

Wow, what a brilliant idea Shake-and-run . You can’t let all that training go to waste, and what good company you will have.

I shall be waving pom-poms at the appropriate time.

[Shake-and-run Half Marathon in reply to Dexy5]

thank you Dexy5 your virtual Pom poms are much appreciated.

[Katnap Marathon]

Anything's possible!

🐱 Katnap 🐱

[SueAppleRun 10 Miles]

I too will have my fingers crossed and will be waving pom poms along with Dexy5

[Shake-and-run Half Marathon in reply to SueAppleRun]

thank you.

[TailChaser Marathon]

Hey Shakes! We’ll smash that HM and we’ll get that itch scratched, have a laugh along the way and lots of coffee and cake at the end.

Your plight has brought up memories of just about 3 years ago when the Shakespeare Half cancelled on me…it was week 15 of my plan 😱, so I hunted down the post I wrote about it, and it reminded me how much we support each other through this journey: healthunlocked.com/marathon...

Congratulations on RED Feb! See you at the start line! 💪

[Shake-and-run Half Marathon in reply to TailChaser]

just re-read your post, they were scary and frustrating times, with a lot more isolation and cancellations to come. This is a mere hiccup in comparison. I will need to look at virtual events, some HM bling would be very nice.

[TailChaser Marathon in reply to Shake-and-run]

Yes, here’s hoping not too many are cancelled due to lack of numbers, it’s a different time to pre-pandemic, lots seem to have changed. Still plenty of virtual bling out there though 👍

[nowster Metric Marathon]

Still, you are blessed, compared with me!

The present only touches thee:

But Oh! I backward cast my eye, on prospects drear!

Though seeing forward cannot I, I guess and fear!

(Modern language paraphrase of Burns's final stanza, breaking the AAABAB rhyming scheme a little.)

I agree. A lot of Burns's poems are "downers".

[Shake-and-run Half Marathon in reply to nowster]

Thanks for that Nowster. Poor mouse, I wonder if RB actually moved her nest off the ploughed field or perhaps she scarpered before he got chance.

[cheekychipmunks Half Marathon]

That’ll be fun Shakes, and with the guidance of the Kat legends you’ll cross that line in style. You could sign up for a virtual HM and get bling too, if that’s your thing? It’s what I’m going for the HUHM - and when you’re flagging, the lure of the bling will give you a little extra push! Works for me. 🏅

[Shake-and-run Half Marathon]

Thank you Cheeky. I will have to investigate the bling options.

[Sandie1961 Half Marathon in reply to Shake-and-run]

I’m sure that somewhere there’ll be a bling option for a virtual half and, at the very least you’ll get a new HU badge 🏅

[Irishprincess Administrator Half Marathon]

Well done on the RED January! That’s given you a fab platform for the training to come.

Why did they cancel the races? What a shame. But your friends have come to the rescue with a great idea.

What about this beauty for a bit of bling? Places are going quickly so if you’re interested….

virtualrunneruk.com/product...

Good luck with the training and enjoy 😎

[Shake-and-run Half Marathon in reply to Irishprincess]

thanks IP. Still some way to go on the training but I have an ace team in my corner.

[Cowladyrunning Marathon]

That sounds a great plan and good luck for it! Sorry the real one got cancelled- how disappointing!

[Shake-and-run Half Marathon in reply to Cowladyrunning]

thanks CLR.