If you were planning to run a race in the near future, anywhere from local 5km to major international marathons, you have probably found out that it got cancelled. Over a couple of days I found out both the Manchester and Cork Marathons were postponed until September/October and possibly some smaller races to follow. It has been tough after putting in two and a half months of training to get to the start line of Manchester. At first I was very disappointed and it started to feel like all the training was going to waste. But after I let things settle I got some perspective on the reality. First of all the obvious thing is that the cancellations are important for the general health and safety of society and I support that. We need to get together (figuratively) to tackle these problems in the best way possible. And I still have my health unlike a lot of other people at this time. COVID-19 has caused a lot of trouble and heartache for people around the world and I am thankful I have not been hit directly by it.

I also gained perspective of my running. A race is merely the end game of training. Although it is generally the focus it does not make you faster or slower by itself. The training is the most important aspect of race performance. And even if you don’t run the race, you will still feel the impact of the training. For this training cycle I increased my weekly runs both in terms of kilometres and number of runs in order to improve my marathon time in Manchester. Even if I don’t have a final race time to prove it I have definitely improved over the last few months. I ran a new 10 mile PB in Dungarvan and I matched last years marathon pace in my 36km long run. I have learned more about different training types such as internvals and recovery. My nutrition has improved in terms of the food I eat before long runs and while doing them. As well as that I have thoroughly enjoyed my training and pretty much every run I came home feeling great about myself.

And at the end of the day Manchester (and Cork) was only a stepping stone to get myself closer to a sub 3 marathon. That was never on the cards at Manchester, so I only lost a probable sub 3:10 PB. But that sub 3 time is now closer than it was in December of last year. That is what I have to focus on. Even with social distancing I plan to continue running and complete my training plan as long as possible. Especially at times like this it will be important to continue to get fresh air and exercise in order to stay healthy.