Running blog: how was your weekend running?

Did any running blog readers run the New York marathon on Sunday? It was certainly another great day for Kenyan runners, with Geoffrey Mutai defending his title (from 2011, as 2012’s race was cancelled due to the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy) and Priscah Jeptoo winning the women’s race. Their times? Slow for Mutai, dawdling home in 2hr 8min 24sec. His own course record is a good few minutes faster than that.

Jeptoo won in 2hr 25min 7sec, and was all the more impressive for having been nearly three and a half minutes back from New York local Bizunesh Deba (she is Ethopian, but lives in the Bronx) at the halfway point. Jeptoo ran the second half of the race in 69:07, to which I can only say: “Wow.” For great in-depth analysis, and to admire the astonishing consistency of Mutai’s splits, check out this Science of Sport blogpost.

Meanwhile, back in windy London, I am in marathon training mode. The weekend long runs are starting to climb – 15 miles yesterday – and the Tiger Balm (my cure for all running-related aches) is on permanent standby. The countdown to the Seville marathon now stands at less than three months. Gulp. Anyone else starting to focus on spring marathon training? Seville is an early one, being in late February, so don’t get alarmed if you aren’t yet!

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