Whose idea was this anyway?

Five and a bit weeks to go 'til the big M and I'm nowhere near prepared. Where did the summer go? It only seems like days since I was meticulously planning my 16-week training schedule - dreaming about reaching peak fitness and slashing 30 minutes off my time. Ha!

My initial enthusiasm for the running club soon wore off, because:

• Tuesday night long runs were too long and I didn't like leaving the dog at home - she likes running too but the beach is so much more fun than the road and she hates being on the lead
• Thursdays were great but the boys were just too fast for me - why was I the only girl? I thought this was a good challenge at first, but the novelty of playing catch up didn't last and I started to feel demotivated.

I haven't given up on the club completely, but twice-weekly is now more like once-a-month. I am still sticking to three runs a week - Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday - but have replaced Tuesday's club run with a circuit/hill reps session in the park straight after work. The beauty of this is that it gives me the chance to catch up with a couple of the girls and still get home in time to take the dog out. Thursdays are either running club or 5-6 miles with the dog, and Saturday is the long run.

Ah, the long run. My nemesis. Try as I might I could not get past 9 miles. It always felt like there was so long to go until the marathon that there was no hurry to go longer. I got bored and took a short cut home. Then two weeks ago I did the Haddington Half Marathon and was shocked into action. Another personal worst! It was a warm and sunny afternoon and I was tired, but that's really no excuse. I just hadn't put in the training and I had no one to blame but myself. It didn't bode well for the marathon.

I'd really love to beat my only other marathon attempt (4 hours 20 minutes, 4 years ago) so I'm now pulling out all the stops. I did 14 miles last Saturday - 7 out and 7 back so I couldn't cheat - and intend to add on 2 a week until I hit 20. I'll also add in some cross-trainer and bike sessions on my non-running days, to try to get my fitness up without over-training.

Can I reach my best-ever fitness in less than 6 weeks? Watch this space!