New running shoes, and more

A good week for training for marathons. New running shoes, visa ok'd for America and a major improvement in training.

The week didn't start so well. The Frank Harmer Memorial 10K that I was hoping to run in early March, has been cancelled. Building work scheduled for the changing facilities that we would have used means the race is no more. I'm most disappointed. As I said before it would have been good to have a shorter race prior to my marathon on March 29. Oh well, no point in moaning.

On a more positive note, Homeland Security have given me the OK to enter the USA. Going there to run in March, this really helps. There is now a new requirement called ESTA, which you need to meet to travel to the States. By providing details like your passort number and address where you'll be staying in the US, they decide if you are worthy of entering their great nation. Some of the quiestions were, it has to be said a bit surprising, like:

C) Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage; or in terrorist activities; or genocide; or between 1933 and 1945 were you involved , in any way, in persecutions associated with Nazi Germany or its allies?

I answered no, which seemed to be what they wanted.

And this weekend has been most productive. I bought a nice pair of much needed running shoes. Now I can be reasonably sure my knees will be ok in the coming year. And a 13 mile training run to Battersea and back has put me on track for a decent performance in Atlanta this March. A bit more effort and I may at last break 4 hours. Here's hoping.