11.
What a journey it has been. Running for 140 of the last 148 weeks after almost 12 years plagued with injury. That would have seemed like a pipe dream just a few years ago. Consistency brought about performance improvements. It started with accepting I was a 36:40 10km runner in 2015, before improving in 2016 (35:18) and breaking my PB by the year’s end (34:20). The dream goal of a sub-34-minute 10km came in 2017 (33:46), in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and in the presence of my uncle and brother. It has been a great 3 years but also a long 3 years. Physically, I am better than ever but mentally, my race is run.
The paragraph above is an extract from my retirement blog post. I had tried and failed to run under 33 minutes for 10km and I no longer had the will to sustain the regimen that made such lofty goals possible…
Come back Friday May 28th for an extract from Chapter 12: Becoming an athlete a runner in training. Pre-order the kindle version of the book now on amazon, out June 28th 2021.
Peter Francis 