Hometown Unicorn

I was lucky enough to be able to run the Brighton Marathon today : I did this in memory of my father-in-law (full story here ).   I;ve not run a marathon since London in (I think) 1992 : the ADT era, when the finish was on Lambeth Bridge, not the Mall, and we all ran in plus-fours.  Joking about the last bit.  I ran about 3:30 on that day in 1992, at the age of 29, and with a lot more single-sport dedication to running.  Now I am 50, I was thinking it would be interesting to see how I could run a single event marathon. Brighton is a young (4 runnings) but big race : 9000 competitors.  The route starts from Preston Park, does a shimmy or two around the town centre, then sends you first east, then west along the sea front. Finish is just past the pier. Conditions were good : the overnight rain cleared up, there as  a bit of light white cloud to keep the sun away, and some breeze but not a wind.   I had a few 20 mile/3 hour runs in my recent training past, but two weeks ago picked up

Last weekend I attended a Total Immersion swimming course at a school in Hampton. I had a brilliant experience (the only way to describe it) and it has transformed my way of thinking about the sport, to the extent that l now want to completely re-engineer my stroke. This morning I started out on this journey, by spending an hour just doing basic drills - glides with focus on head and arm position, and a few attempts at the two initial drills, swimming on my back and "Sweet Spot", as it is called. Relearning all this stuff isnt going to be easy, but l AM going to be patient. The prize (being able to swim effortlessly in a fish-like way) is definitely worth it!