STILL RUNNING - STILL CELEBRATING

This is the last day of April and my blogposts have been few and far between this month. So this evening I will endeavour to complete this post about my local circuit running that I have had planned since Saturday April 8 earlier this month when I ran the 3.5 mile circuit twice in 01:31:30. I calculated my10K time as 1 hour and 20.5 minutes. Here I am in a staged photo, arranged after I had finished, returned home, and asked Louise to come out to take the image:

Easter Saturday - 8 April 2023 - heading home down the Stennack, with the Fire Station in the distance and the Leach Pottery on the other side of the road. My time for the 7 miles of running was 1 hour 31 minutes and 30 seconds - two minutes slower than the year before, in April 2022.    

These double runs are a rare and beautiful thing. They don't happen that often - and when they do, it's tangible evidence that there is still stamina in my body, despite three years of side-effects from my anti-hormonal drug treatment that has helped me fight the battle, successfully so far, against prostate cancer. First Zoladex for a year, and then Decapeptyl for a further two years, wiped out my testosterone and so

prevented the cancer from spreading  - see Dying to Know, chapter 4, for more detail - using this link here to get your copy. But the limbs are more achy than ever before - and the energy levels have dropped. I am slower - but I am still going. 

Three years ago, in 2020, the Vitality 10K race in London in April was cancelled because of COVID19. In 2021, the organizers introduced the chance to run the distance as a virtual event in your own location - and they have continued to do so, even though the actual race in London has resumed. For a reasonable price, you can pay your entrance money and get a running vest and a number. All you need do is run the distance and submit a recording of your time. In return, a certificate arrives through the post. That's what I did in 2021.

29 May 2021- London Vitality Virtual 10K - approaching the home turn and the finish - 7 miles completed in 1 hour and 27 minutes and 2 seconds (10K in 77:02) 

And again in 2022.

Last year - 2022 - approaching home - 7 miles completed in 1 hour 29 minutes and 25 seconds (10K in 79:25) 

This year, in 2023, the actual London race is scheduled for Sunday 24 September which happens to be my 75th birthday. You don't have to run your virtual 10K on that day - you must do so within a few days of that date, at your convenience. This I will do. I don't want to miss my hour of silent worship on Sunday morning now we are part of the Marazion Quakers. But I did want to get a 10K behind me this month, as part of my training. The truth is I have let the 3.5 distance become my norm - and now I must reclaim my longer running distances.

The medical team at Cornwall Prostate Cancer have decided it's time for me to come off my anti-hormonal treatment. We will see what happens to the testosterone levels when I next get a blood test in the summer. Meanwhile, I know that my job is to keep as fit as I can - and that means running more and further. I am delighted to report that despite some rainy days I managed 8 runs this month, covering 31.5 miles, the best since August of last year. Next month, I am aiming to improve those figures. 

I have also completed the writing of 'Mine to Die' this month, all bar a few finishing touches to the acknowledgements. More on that later, in another blogpost, but if you check out the link to my website at www.robdonovan-author.co.uk you will find more detail about 'Mine to Die' and much else.