A FRESH START TO PUT UP OR SHUT UP  
I've been doing that thinking thing again. But this time my loyal five readers, you will may be relieved to hear that it's about my running rather than a self-righteous rant about world affairs.
It's put up or shut up this year. Race results need to bare a least a reasonable reflection on time and effort spent training. A few tweaks will hopefully make the difference. For a start off, I can see what worked for me and what didn't last year. Then Sara got me a top Christmas prezzie of a year's gym membership at the local leisure centre, so it's hello pilates, yoga, cross training and treadmill sessions. Add to this a proposed 70% reduction of beer intake and that is the 'put up' part of the deal.
But, if all that doesn't bare fruit and I'm just chasing my own shadow again all year, then not only will this particular rambling of this nobody in particular draw to it's natural ending, but I would need to look at whether I'm at the right club - or even if I should be with a club at all. Ribble Valley Harriers is quite a unique set up. It's small and it's all about winning things. Team wins, individual wins, age category wins... it's loaded with international runners and some of Lancashire's top veterans, which begs the question: What the frig am I doing there? I'm not going to win owt, but I need to be racing well with regularity at the very least - to me that seems a bare minimum requirement to justify the possession of that black vest... and there you have the 'shut up' parts, should push come to shove.
Two main boxes to tick this year then and firstly, can I finally find some consistency? To generally finish around top ten at local level fell races and top twenty in some on Lakeland scene would suffice. The second box to tick is to dip under seventeen minutes for 5K on the road - yes, that old chestnut again. I'm adamant I have absolutely no potential whatsoever to redeem any sort of form of old in road racing. But I know that I could still grind out a decent 5K without wrecking my body. Do I really believe I can do these things? Yes. But I accept it's against the odds.
First things first though, I'm still not running at all yet. Day 28 and probably a few more days still to go until I finally feel well enough to get out for a jog. But then it's all systems go and I'm really looking forward to cracking on with a fresh start to be quite honest. It's a month until the Parbold Hill Race which I pre-entered a while back. Something to aim for.