By Rod Lopez

This past weekend I did my first race as a build up for the London marathon. It was the Maxifuel Half marathon at Dorney Lake, near Windsor, where the Olympic rowing will take place in the summer. The event is well organised and quite small with just over 300 runners this year and the course has great PB potential as it is very very flat, consisting basically of four laps around the lake.

My training for the marathon has been going relatively well with all key sessions being completed and I have also been dieting since mid-January and have now lost nearly 9 pounds (4kg). Another bonus is that my 3 month-old daughter started sleeping through the night recently so I have been getting good quality sleep too. My left calf has been giving me a bit of trouble but I had physio treatmenton the Wednesday prior to the race. Needless to say I had high hopes for it. read more

This was the 29^th meeting of the Championships with over 600 entrants over the 2 days.

Being part of my World Indoor build up I ran the 1500 on Saturday winning Gold in a time 5 seconds quicker than last year and faster than I’ve run for several years indoors or out so was delighted with 5 mins 13.24. However I did pay for it in the 3000 on Sunday as my legs really felt like they had run a marathon!

Having taken 3 seconds of my British Record last weekend in the Southern Counties Championships I knew it would be tough. I started off well on target but with very tired legs could not find anything extra, although I did manage to better my time it was only by a whisker. Still every little helps as they say! My British W55 Indoor Record now stands at 11 mins 01.3. read more

On what was a perfect night for running this Wednesday we had to feel very sorry for Kirk Swann and Laurie Parr. They both ran very well and gained new personal best times for the Stag course, but neither were anywhere near the top ten, as eight other people also gained PB's.

The winner on the night for the second time in two months was Helen Crossland, whose 25.22 was 1.40 quicker than her previous best. She was followed home by Charlie Mead and Joe McGarry who have both finished the cross-country season strongly and clearly had a battle all the way around this penultimate Stag of the season, with Charlie just sneaking under 16 minutes. read more

Later this year the club intends to host some beginner runner sessions. The idea behind these is to provide an environment whereby new or lapsed runners can feel more comfortable away from the pressure of meeting up with the Wednesday regulars. To host these sessions we are looking for people to lead them, which is where you may be able to help. Ideally we are looking for several dedicated leaders who are able to commit to a fixed time every week for an initial period of around 8 weeks. The time and day of the week for the sessions will be chosen by those wanting to lead them. If successful we will look to hold more sessions later in the year. read more