I’ve just signed up to Run Norwich 2017

After much ‘umming’ and ‘ahhing’ – I’ve decided to bite the bullet and sign up to Run Norwich for the third time.

After taking part in the first two I’d been giving serious thought about whether to make it third time lucky.

But here’s the thing, my running this year has lacked the focus of having an event to train for.

It was time to get back in the game, give myself a reason to get out in the morning, afternoon, or evening.

It was time to start again.

I just felt that without a goal – everything was becoming, well a bit aimless. I’d missed out on the Broadland half, (you’ve got to be quick off the draw if you want to do that one these days as it seems to sell out pretty quickly) and the Grand East Anglia Run, which has been on my hit list for a number of years, but I’ve never got round to doing it.

I’d even looked to signing up to the Great East Run – down in Ipswich, but that’s sold out too, despite organisers releasing another 500 places.

So Run Norwich it was – and let’s face it – it’s a lovely city to run in, and the route takes in some amazing sights (but I’m afraid for any first timers reading this, it is deceptively hilly, particularly near the end).

And in a bit of a frenzy I’ve signed up for the Wissey half marathon too, but more of that anon.

So training for the Run Norwich 10k (and the half) starts now. And here’s the amazing thing, take a look at the Run Norwich website and you see that there are going to be more than 5,000 of us taking part.

Given the enthusiasm for running around this part of the world, perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised, but that’s a great achievement to get to those sorts of numbers in three years.

Isn’t it time to have a half marathon in Norwich City Centre?

In fact, just to stir the pot a little, it makes you wonder whether it proves there is scope for the city to host a marathon – or a city centre half marathon in the first instance, as with all due respect to the City of Norwich half marathon, a couple of laps around the Norfolk Showground and Easton isn’t quite the same thing.

I know there are issues are around the cost of road closures in the city and getting the route right, but with numbers of that size for Run Norwich, is the time coming to up the ante given the numbers it’s sure to bring in to the city?

Ipswich may have got there first with the Great East Run, but you can’t help feeling that there’s something special going on in Norwich and the potential is there for us to have something to truly rival the Great North Run.

• Are you training for Run Norwich? Would you like to see a city centre half marathon? Feel free to leave a comment to discuss.