Eight weeks ago my campaign for a sub-4 marathon began in Greece. It was a boozy week that included a bit of running – but I did hit my mileage targets despite it being hotter than the sun even at 7pm when I was heading out for my sessions.

Two months later the mileage has picked up but the boozing hasn’t calmed down. I’ve taken solace in a fellow blogger over at Will Run For Beer who drinks more than me and runs a hell of a lot faster too – maybe beer is the key to sub-4 glory? And with Hash Runs a regular part of my running calendar at the moment, it doesn’t look like I’ll be on the wagon any time soon.

Last year, when I trained for Brighton Marathon I hardly drank for three months. I got drunk twice (once on my birthday and again for a friend’s birthday) but other than that I was on a self-imposed drinking ban. To me then, this was important and if you think something’s important it sort of IS important. But this time around, although my goal is specific in terms of time, I’m more relaxed about the training process and I know that a few drinks a couple of times a week won’t really get in my way of putting in the miles at this stage.

What WILL get in the way is my leg which, at the moment feels like it’s about to fall off. Two weeks ago I took a softball to the shin and since then a pain has been building in the shin and calf. At the start of Sunday’s 15-miler I could hardly run, but I ran anyway and by about 5 miles the pain had eased off. Yesterday I hobbled around all day then bought some new trainers and compression socks. I toyed with not running and having another rest day, but that seemed like too sensible an idea. Plus I had new stash that needed taking out for a spin. So I popped some ibuprofen and went on the Hash Run.

I told my buddy that I was going to take it easy and hang back with him. But a mile in I got bored so sped off with the lead pack. My leg was moaning, but I wasn’t. I was feeling speedy and nothing was going to stop me… until this morning when I hobbled out of bed again.

So tonight, instead of trying to run through the pain again, I’m off for a sports massage in the hope that it will sort me out. I’m testing out a new guy and I’m a bit nervous/excited about it. I’ve had a few sports massage people over the past couple of years but never found Mr Right. Could this be the one?

But enough about me. How’s your training going?