San Domenico 20m and Forest of Dean 1/2 marathon

The two main races to focus on this weekend are the San Domenico 20m and the Forest of Dean Half Marathon. With the London Marathon only 4 weeks away, the SD20 is a good opportunity for a tune-up prior to the big race. I am a big believer in progressive tempo runs, rather than attempting to run 20 milers flat out - which could conceivably take 2 weeks or more to recover from. So tomorrow's plan will see me starting easy for a few miles and gradually upping the pace, hopefully finishing at around 6.10/mile pace. The winner of the 2008 race, Julian Baker, is listed to start on Sunday and must be one of the favourites - whilst in the ladies race it looks like Gemma Jones, who finished 2nd in the Gloucester 20m and Emma D'Alton who won last week's Rhayader 20m, should be well up there.

The Forest of Dean half marathon is always looked forward to and Westbury's Julian Hatcher may well be looking to defend his title - having run a cracking 1.14 last year on the undulating trails. With Westbury's Robyn Golding also on the start list - it could well be a Westbury winner in both the mens and ladies races! Apparently this year's course has been altered slightly to make it flatter, so there may well be some quicker times out there yet!