The thought crossed my mind, fleetingly, in December. 

It was a few weeks after the St Neots Half Marathon and, whilst it’s sometimes nice to break away from a training structure for a few weeks and just run for pleasure, I was starting to get itchy feet. 

I only had one goal race booked for 2023: The Cambridge Half Marathon. 

The trouble is, it didn’t give me that feeling; I wonder if you know what I’m talking about. 

That intoxicating feeling when you book a race and a wave of anxiety and excitement washes over you. It’s a combination that I’ve found has helped drive my motivation in training before. 

I knew what I wanted to do: sign up for a spring marathon. 

‘But Mark, you said didn’t want to do that. You said you wanted to have a break from some of the higher mileage before targeting an autumn marathon.’ 

All true. 

But I’ve got a sense of what might have been after the Chicago Marathon last year. I was absolutely delighted with the 3:38 I came away with but the training going into it was hardly ideal given the Achilles issue I had. 

I know there’s a quicker time in me and I’m not afraid to say that I haven’t got the patience to wait another full year before having another go. Who knows what could happen in a year’s time? 

I see signing up to a marathon as an investment in myself as well. I’ll be a lot more conscious of what I’m doing to my body and what I’m putting into it during my training... that’s not to say I’ll opt out of cake run with my Wymondham AC comrades each Friday... 

I started to look at a few options: the logistics of it were of paramount importance given I’m not sure I can handle the guilt of another ‘unauthorised absence’ from my children’s school... 

The race needs to be all wrapped up in a weekend so Lara and Logan can be back for Monday morning. 

I narrowed it down to Edinburgh, Manchester or Brighton... 

Given I have run the first two and the London Marathon events team has just taken over Brighton, the Armstrong clan are heading to the south coast on the first weekend in April. 

It’s 11 weeks until the big day this Sunday, which means there isn’t any time to waste and I’ve had to up my mileage immediately, albeit carefully given my propensity to breakdown. 

I feel like I’ve still got a good aerobic base to build from, meaning I’m able to jump back into another marathon training cycle. I’ve maintained a strength programme and I’m putting in place what I felt worked for me during the Chicago Marathon training cycle. 

The most important thing I must remember is that my health and wellbeing is key. I know that if I can look after my physical and mental health then the times I want to achieve will take care of themselves. 

Staying healthy means staying consistent with my training. I’ve really tried to listen to my body over the last year and let that dictate what training I do. If I need a day off from running then I take it: yes, it can be frustrating, but not anywhere near as annoying as having to miss weeks or months of training due to injury. 

I’m now really happy with my shoe rotation knowing that whilst carbon shoes can bring out the best time on race day, they don’t suit me to use them too often.  

I’m thoroughly enjoying using the Saucony Tempus over the last month or so. As someone that needs a bit of stability sometimes, it offers that without being bulky. I’d encourage anyone that over-pronates to try a pair on. 

But more than anything, find what works for you and stick to it. Don’t do what I did in the run up to Chicago and watch too many shoe reviews on YouTube and get sucked into all the marketing hype around certain shoes. 

Training is about to get serious again... and I can’t wait.