For many runners, the letters ‘PB’ hold a certain magic

For anyone who’s not sure about it, Personal Best (PB) happens when you’ve run a certain distance in a faster time than previously.

Sometimes they come gradually, shaving a few seconds off each week. Other times they come in leaps and bounds. After staying a certain pace for a while, or fluctuating faster and slower over time, suddenly that time can improve by 30 seconds or even more. It doesn’t happen that often, but when it does, it feels like a just reward for all that hard work finally paying off.

For the first time, my 5km result came in under 25 minutes! And about 40 seconds off my previous best – a big jump and after a lot of hard work.

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All variety of training: 

long and slow, short and fast, intervals, hills…

solo, with friends, with training groups…

yoga, boot camp, walking…

sunrises, sunsets, rainy, cold, windy…

Distances slowly increasing from 10 to 15 and up to 17.5km – nearly reaching the half marathon point of 21.1km. Lots of steps and hours in the build up.

And in a seemingly impossible, certainly improbable accomplishment, the following week I shaved another 20 seconds off my time. Making for a full minute faster than just a few weeks earlier.

All the support and encouragement goes a long way, from running friends, non-running friends, family, colleagues etc. And great to make new friends along the way and share each small victory on the way to the big event.

A cursory glance at the official ‘training guide’ recommendations and it pleases me to learn that it’s nearly time to start tapering back a little on the training in the couple weeks leading up to the event. Just some nice easy running to keep the momentum going, but giving the muscles etc a good rest.

Thoughts turn to event day – Sunshine Coast marathon on 21 August. Race strategy on the day. Anticipated pace and finish time. Weather conditions. What to wear. Perhaps most importantly, How to celebrate afterwards.

The journey of a thousand miles, or even 21.1km, begins with the first step.