I threw my hat into the ring

Last week I have done all of my running with Marlz, and recently he expressed a desire to try to run the Sydney half in 1:50.

Ouch.

He may be running his first half, but he's running away from me when we do any fast stuff, so I suspect he'll be OK - the issue is whether I'll be up for a 1:50 half.

I had what I'd have to class as an ordinary run in the Hidden Half. I was only ever out for a social run. I started with NTR and Billsy, but 2K in my shoelaces were undone, so I stopped to tie them. I was never going to catch those guys - they were on their way to a faster time than my PB, and I wasn't on the course or legs that were going to support that.

The weekend just gone was fun. On Saturday night we had Nite_Time_Runner and his kids around for dinner and a sleepover. The kids had a great time running amok together.

The problem is that whilst NTR is a nice bloke, he is a lunatic. He says things like "Are you interested in a nice long, slow run in Fitzroy Falls the week after the Sydney Half" and "the Blue Mountains are nice in March". He is a bad influence. By the morning I was asking things like "what time would you be thinking of targeting if you hypothetically did Trailwalker next year?" and "what is the time you need to run at FF to qualify for six foot?".

In the morning NTR and I went out for a run on my favourite loop with Marlz. We took it nice and easy as both NTR and I had run half marathons the previous week and Marlz had never run more than 16K in one go. Again, Marlz spent the entire run pulling away from us and he looked like he was itching to go faster. We got to Concord West train Station at about 18K, and he took the stairs two at a time, with NTR and I forlornly looking up at him and considering using the banister.

This illustrates that I'm a bit lucky. Marlz is obviously a decent runner, and I'll be doing a goodly portion of my training with him. I reckon that one of the best ways to get better at something is to do it regularly with those who are better than you.

So now the target is 1:50 at Sydney.

And after that...

Was I just in the middle, in the middle, in the middle of a dream or did I really agree to do this?

On October 13 I intend to attempt to complete the Fitzroy Falls marathon in five hours and twenty nine minutes.

Now I've done all the Dumb Things. At least I won't be alone. NTR is in. Marlz is interested.