3 Months til London

I’m now counting down the days til the marathons start!  It’s 3 months today for London, which means less than that for Brighton!  Training seems to be going fine, and I’m just getting back into the long runs (I count a long marathon-training run as anything over a half marathon).  So on Saturday I managed 14 miles.  The plan was to run 5.5 miles to parkrun, then do the parkrun, and finally run home the same way.  So early start first thing Saturday as I had to be out early enough to get to the park for 9am, but not be too early so I would have to stop and hang about.

It was a cold day, so I opted for long sleeves which I rarely do unless it’s hovering around 0 degrees!  Plus my hydration pack which carries a few essentials.  It was a nice morning for a run, crisp and clear.  I knew the parkrun was going to be the off road course – but the run there would be mostly on tarmac paths - so I was in a bit of a dilemma about whether to wear, trail shoes or road?  In the end I opted for trail and would run on the grass verges where possible.  Plus there was a good chance the Alban Way which leads to parkrun would be covered with leaves and mud anyway.

First part of the run all went fine, think my body struggled for the first 10 minutes or so, but then I reminded myself never to judge a run by its first mile!  It always feels hard before you get going and your body just wants to go back to bed!  Once I was up past the first hill and seeing other runners around I felt much better.  But I got to parkrun 15 minutes early and wasn’t sure what to do – I didn’t want to stop as then it would break up then run, but if I carried on running I would mess up the distances and maybe even get back to the start line too late!  In the end I decided to do a few laps of the field and a bit up near the woods where a lot of parkrunners were warming up.  It added over half a mile to the garmin so I would just carry on running until 14 miles then walk/jog the last bit home.

Parkrun was good fun, very busy but that’s all good!  The lake that we usually run round was flooded, so we did the off road course, which has a hill in it that you do 3 times, so is tougher.  It was also really muddy, sliding about on the muddy inclines!  As you can imagine my 5k time was pretty lousy – sandwiched between two 5/6 miles runs but I would rather do it this way than a solo 14 miles.  There was a also a bit of a wait while I got my barcode scanned, so I opted to pause my garmin and jog on the spot to I didn’t cramp up, as I still wanted an accurate measure of my pace over the whole run. Luckily a friend knew I had a long run to do afterwards so took mine to scan with his so I could head straight off!

The final part of the run was also fine, my pace was on or slightly slower than marathon pace and I felt strong and steady the whole way round.  I had a couple of new gels along the way, a Maxifuel lemon gel, which did the job but didn’t taste very nice, and a High5 Apple gel which was very good.  I need to stock up on gels again – I’m running very low and am having to resort to using ones given to me in goody bags which I’ve not had before!  As predicted, I did get to 14 miles a bit early due to running round the field before parkrun, so I thought it would be useful to finish there and walk the rest of the way back as a nice cool down.

When I got back, there was just enough time to have a quick shower and lunch before heading into London.  I had heard that the new London Marathon store had opened and to celebrate they were having a 26.2% off sale!  I was really tempted by this year’s VMLM adidas range (despite my mum saying I did NOT need yet more running gear!) and had my eye on a fleece and a couple of their tops.  The shop itself was a lot of fun to walk around as they have done it all up to celebrate the marathon, including a huge map of London on the ceiling with lights marking the route.  My favourite was the display of the past medals from 1981 to 2013!  There was also a new empty box with a red cushion, which will soon house the 2014 medal.

I did splash out a bit and bought a fleece, long sleeved running top and a tank top – all for a bit of extra motivation as to what I’m aiming for this April!

Finally in the afternoon I took a walk along the Embankment.  It was great walking over Tower Bridge (mile 12 of the marathon!) and I got some good photos as it was such a nice day.  I walked back past the Tower of London then followed a bit of the Thames Path towards St Pauls Cathedrals, and finally got the train back when it started to get dark.  I think all the walking did me good as I was not aching the next day!

Virtual Races

Shortly before Christmas, I discovered a new concept that looks like it's been popular among US runners for some time - Virtual Races.  I had never heard of them before until they started showing up on my twitter feed and even then it was some time before I bothered to read up on them.

This virtual race organiser, Will Run for Bling and Charity describes a virtual race as "A virtual race is a race that can be ran at any location. You can walk, use the treadmill, run outside or participate in another race.  You can run your race at your pace wherever you like."

You sign up in the same way as a normal race, entering online and paying your fee.  You choose your distance (usually anything from 5k to marathon or over).  You get an email with a race bib that you print off.  Then, you run (more on that, later!).  At the end you submit your time, usually with proof such as photo of your watch, a Garmin upload screenshot, smartphone app, or just a photo of you looking hot and sweaty with your race number pinned on to your top.  Social media is a big part of the race, and everyone is encourage to get online and meet their fellow runners around the world.  Finally, there is often a theme, whatever the organiser decides will be fun and popular!  Monthly races are usually based on the season, such as February is valentines themed and December is Christmas themed.  Or there are movies and TV shows – there was even a Doctor Who 50^th Anniversary race!

Well at first I was definitely in two minds about the whole concept and wasn’t surprised I hadn’t heard of them in the UK yet.   I thought, well may be they are great for new runners or those who don’t have the money or time to travel to an actual race and just want to grab their friends together for their first 10k in the park.  On the other hand, the event itself is the best bit, and virtual racing cuts all of that out!!  Plus if you want anything tangible – usually a medal, they cost money, and some of the US races seemed very expensive for what is essentially a solo run ($25-$40!).  But then I discovered that most of the payment went to charity, and that nearly all runs were set up in order to raise money to begin with, which made it a bit better.  Obviously I can’t see the majority of runners deciding to go and pay money to do a run by themselves but there is a growing community out there including one or two UK communities.

I have a very strong feeling that the main two reasons for doing these are for a small group to run together and motivate each other in the same way they would a race, and secondly for the medal.  Most of the websites have no shame in saying their runners LOVE bling, and by rewarding entrants with big, shiny medals then the runners enjoy coming back for more.  I have to admit, some of the medals are quite awesome and it’s no wonder they are often sold out.  But does it count if they are not part of a “real-life” event?

So instead of thinking about it, I decided to enter one and make up my mind.   Two in fact – a well-established looking US virtual race series, and a smaller UK series, one of which I’ve finished.  The other I am yet to do!

The first was a movie-themed race with Will Run for Bling and Charity and was based on Top Gun.  There was a choice of 5k, 10k, or half marathon and you had to do your run within a 4 week window.  I submitted my entry as the 10k, as I was literally just about to do my 26.2 Roman Run and wasn’t sure I was up for a half marathon within 4 weeks, but secretly I thought to myself I would like to do one of each distance in that timespan (although you only needed to submit one time).  The medal was very eye catching, an awesome-looking fighter jet with the words “Top Gun Run” in the famous movie font beneath, and 5k/10k/Half Marathon below that and also printed on the ribbon.  If people only do these for the medals, I can see why, but I was still a bit apprehensive as I entered my credit card details for an amount slightly more than what I would pay for a small, local 10k.  At least the profits would go to charity – the American Diabetes Association.

So mid-December, I set a date and went for my virtual 10k.  To be honest, it was just a normal run, but I did print out my bib and wear it so it felt a bit more special.  It also felt like I was making myself more accountable – I knew I had to do this, as it was “race day”, and although I was tired from the Roman Run I still wanted to try and race myself!!  When I got back, it was quite fun going on their facebook site and sending in a screenshot of my Garmin upload then commenting on each other’s photos/posts.  There were loads of other runners around the world, plenty with photos of themselves holding their medals or back from their own virtual run wearing race bibs.  This was actually the best bit about it, and gave it a good community feel.  The results also go up on the site (they use an honour system) so you can see where you came and congratulate your fellow racers.  Some time later, the medal did indeed show up, and it’s rather stunning!  No wonder so many people take part in these!  I guess if the only real expenditure for the organiser is getting medals made and shipped out, and no costs in actually organising an actual event, you do get some special bling.  It is by far the biggest medal I own.

The other race is with Virtual Runner UK, and this time it will be fun to run with other Brits.  There was a 5k and 10k option here, so I chose the 10k.  I do usually find these distances tough unless I’m doing an easy run – I prefer either a shorter, sharper 5k or a slower, tempo 8 or 10 miles.  So this is again making me accountable for doing a fast 10k – they are good training!  The medal is much more modest, but it was a very cheap race to enter, just a few pounds and again goes to charity.  Let’s see how it goes when I set a date for sometime before the end of January!

At the end of the day, I expect it won’t hit off with most runners as it is basically just paying money to do something you normally do, without the benefit of being in an organised race.  I can’t see myself doing one very often, but I might sign up for one for a few special occasions.  I can't be spending £5-£15 every few weeks just for this reason - although at least there's no travel and hotel costs involved so might work out a lot cheaper than doing actual races every other weekend!  Some other reasons I thought would be a benefit would be if you have a distance race in the future, and want more motivation for your training runs.  So if you have a marathon coming up, and need to do a 13 mile run in the training plan but there are no races around the correct time, a virtual race might be more motivating than just another long slow weekend run.  Especially if it’s your first time hitting that distance, then the medal will really feel worth it.  I am thinking I might sign up for a marathon-distance virtual race before my ultra, so I can be more motivated for the really long final runs and have a mini-reward along the way to see me through.

If you have friends doing the couch to 5k, and want to run together then a virtual race could be a great gift for them if they can’t or doing feel ready to do a race yet.  Or if you’re really competitive with friends who are at a similar standard but live in different parts of the country, you might decide to enter a virtual race and race each other that way.  Finally there are races which reward you for not just doing one race, but committing to a series of runs over the year adding up to a total number of miles or runs.  This could be a great way to celebrate a personal target with others, the popular one at the moment seems to be “14 in 2014” – 14 races of a chosen distance in 2014.  Or 2014 miles in 2014.  At the end you order your medal.  Ok so anyone could just buy one and say they have done it, but I can’t imagine non-runners are going to have much of an incentive to pay out money (and it’s not pennies, either) and just pretend to do a run that anyone can do at any time.  I suppose the cynical among us could also argue that it’s just making our sport into a spending/consumerism spree with more emphasis on shiny, glittery trinkets and less on actual running and fitness.  I’ll let someone else argue that though since I love shiny glittery things! 

And finally, if you really want to celebrate a special day, there’s always the Birthday or seasonable virtual races, where you commit to running on your birthday, Christmas, New Year’s Day etc and have a fun medal to show for it, even if there was no real race you could take part it.

Best of both worlds?  Get together a group of friends, sign up for a virtual 5k with the blingy-est medal you can find or a charity that is close to you all, head a popular Parkrun on a Saturday morning and all try and run a PB :)

Some websites offering virtual races:

http://www.willrunforbling.com/

http://fullmedalruns.bigcartel.com

http://www.fit4liferaceseries.com/index.php

http://www.virtualrunneruk.com/about

Polar Night Half Marathon

Had a very exciting half-marathon last weekend, up in Tromso, the very north of Norway!  I’d always wanted to go to this city, and the race there is quite a big one, so it was a good excuse.  Plus, with the solar activity of the sun being strong this year, there was no better time for a chance of seeing the Northern Lights!

I flew up, via Oslo, on Friday, and checked into the hotel.  It was quite late by then, so I just had a simple dinner in the hotel restaurant which was not too expensive.  Mind you, everything in Norway is expensive – the cheese and tomato pizza I had was around £15!

The next morning I made the most of the included breakfast and eat my fill, both to fuel me for the race and so I wouldn’t need to buy lunch.  The race was not until 3pm, so I could get away with a big breakfast.  I ventured out into the city and had a walk round the town.  It was dark, but there were actually a few hours of lightness every day, and although the sun never came up fully, the sky was a beautiful blue-pink and made for some lovely photos as it reflected off the water.  It was lighter than I expected actually, and warmer too – we got very lucky as it was around +2 degrees during the day, and 0 in the evening, down to -2 at night.  It could well have been well under 0 during the day and -10 in the evening for the race!

I had to go and collect my race bib at the city hall, and this was a good opportunity to meet other runners.  Over 60% of participants were from outside of Norway, including quite a few Brits.  There’s not many races where you get a chance to run a half marathon 200 miles into the arctic circle, but still enjoy a well organised running event and short-haul flights from the UK, so this explains why it’s so popular!  Major bragging rights, but without the huge time and expense of travelling to a remote polar icecap region!

We lined up at the start just before 3pm.  It was dark by then, but the streets were well lit and the crowds were excellent.  I wasn’t sure what to wear, as it hovering between 0 and -2 degrees and I have run in -5 in the UK several times.  In the end I went for a long sleeved running top, light high-viz jacket, thermal tights, thick gloves and a beanie.  I also took my new hydration pack.  This turned out to be fine.  There were about 1000 entrants, including a small field of 10k runners.

The first mile was fairly easy, as it was on the main road – which was closed – and it had been cleared from snow and well gritted.  It was slightly uphill, but it did ease us in gently.  We left the town centre and went onto the pathways into the neighbourhoods.  There was a lot more snow here, and the paths were much icier, although they were generally very well gritted.  Further out though, there was more ice and it was quite undulating.  It got colder too, as we ran out towards the airport which is quite open, so there was a very biting cold wind.  The route was a simple out and back, with a small loop around the airport.  There were plenty of water stations, one of which gave out sports drinks.  It was really surreal, running in the dark alongside water, while just about making out the mountains surrounding the city.  Although it was very hard work, I really enjoyed it.  The buzz among runners was also brilliant, with faster runners on the “back” encouraging us slower ones on the “out”!  There was a reasonable 3 hour time limit, which for some runners was certainly needed given that these were hardly PB conditions to run in!

The last few miles were hard work, as they were mostly uphill, plus the snow had been compacted a lot more so was even more slippery.  I felt like I spent a lot of energy just trying to keep my balance!  The roads were re-opened too, apart from a very short stretch coming up to the finish line, so it was back to running on the snowy paths when we got back into the city.  I wasn’t sure what finish time I had in mind when I started the race, if there had been more snow I would have predicted over 2.40, so at the half way point having judged the conditions I went for a time between 2.30 and 2.35.  In the end I just about got in at 2.29 having exhausted myself in the last 2 miles, which I was very happy with!

We got a lovely medal with an engraving of snow flakes, plus drink, bananas and a foil blanket.  No hanging around though, I cooled down very quickly so went straight back to the hotel for a very hot shower!

That night I was in for a treat as I was booked in for an aurora trip.  We took a boat out into the fjords and we ended up watching the beautiful lights for well over an hour!  They were amazing and I am so glad to have seen them that weekend.  Half marathon followed by an aurora sighting is the perfect way to spend a day in the arctic circle!  I am not sure what was more fun – or more surreal – it was a truly unforgettable experience!

If you get the chance to do this race I really recommend it.  Pics below!
1. Banner at the race start
2. Tromso high street
3. Tromso high street shops
4. Midday over the bay

Happy New Year!

Ok so I think it's time for a blog update or two!!  Firstly, hope you all had a great Christmas and a very happy New Year.  And now it's January, which means Marathon Season is upon us!  I had a tweet last week reminding me that it was only 100 days until the London Marathon.  Plus Brighton is a week earlier so  we really are counting down the days. 

So it's 2014, and all across the land, folk are getting their gear on and making those resolutions and training for their next goal.  I love seeing loads of runners, cyclists and walkers out on the streets at this time of the year, whether they are first timer joggers or upping the mileage again for a spring marathon.  Even better is when the new runners stick through the first few weeks and keep going well into spring, as we all know how difficult it is to keep resolutions in dark, cold January.  Although it seems to be mild (I ran today in shorts and a vest) much of the UK is still very wet and flooded.  I do feel for my friends in the US though having been hit by terrible winter blizzards.

So what have I been up to?  Well – I carried on running over Christmas!  Although I did treat myself and probably eat enough carbs to fuel a 100 mile ultra, plus the triathlon sessions stopped for 2 weeks so I have only been running and trying to keep active during the days off by walking and the odd swim.  I’m pleased, as I ran not only on Christmas Day (2 miles to church!) but on New Years Day (St Albans Parkrun) too!  I’ve also done a couple of races, the Pednor 10 – the last of 2013 - and the Polar Nights Half Marathon (which I’ll do a separate post on) which was the first of 2014.

I got some awesome new gear for Christmas.  A Nathan hydration backpack, which is much for comfortable than my old one, and some insanely bright pink running tights which I love.  Plus some money from my brother to spend on new gear so I bought a hi-viz run jacket in the sales.  He also got me a very interesting book on low-carb diets for athletes.  He and my parents are all low carb and have done very well on it, but I’ve always stuck to the traditional marathon runner’s diet of pasta or potatoes before the long run!    I won’t review the book here nor go into a debate about it, but I did find it very interesting and strongly considered following it, weighing up the pros and cons.  In the end I decided to stay with the traditional carb-burning methods rather than convert my body to a fat/ketone-burner, mainly as I did not need to lose any weight, but also because it would mean several weeks of very difficult training and poor performance while my body converted to fat burning.  Plus, I LOVE carbs, and I don’t want to be guilty about still having them in my diet!  I did make me decide to review my sugar intake though, which I admit is rather high.  Not only do I treat myself after running but I tend not to think twice about snacking on cake or chocolate in the day either.  I need to cut down on all the random sugars and unnecessary carbs I eat during the day when I’m not training, and replace them with healthier snacks – which, I’m glad to read, can include cheese, eggs and cream and not just celery!  I will also make the effort to enjoy a small, half-sized bowl of Ben & Jerries after running too as I have been known to eat most of a tub after a long run (it will save me money as well!).

While I was deciding, I did have a few days where I really cut down the carbs, and I felt it during my running.  I did the Pednor 10, which was my PB for the 10 miles in 2012, but this time really struggled.  It was a truly horrendous time, just minutes off 2 hours!  Luckily, it was a gorgeous day, and when I gave up pushing myself I enjoyed the event a lot as it’s in an attractive part of the county and has a small, friendly field.  On new year’s eve I went out for an 8 miler, and I almost hit the wall at about mile 4.  And by the time I struggled round New Year’s Day Parkrun – having been sober the night before! – I’d had enough and literally wanted to have my cake and eat it too!  I did expect this and know with time I could have adapted to fat-burning eventually but I’d only try again it if I did not have any races coming up (and did not have a sweet tooth).  Are you on a low carb diet or sticking with the good old carb-loading?  If so I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

One more January race lined up – the Fred Hughes 10 (another local 10 miler).  Last year it was snowed off, so hopefully it will go ahead this year.  In the meantime though, I’ve got to start getting the long runs in again, so have a 14 miler planned this weekend, which I’ll try and combine with parkrun.  Means my parkrun times will start getting very slow again and I won’t be able to go for the traditional coffee and cake every week, as I’ll have to run 7 miles beforehand, do the 5k, then run 4 miles home!  Tri-Force sessions have started up again now, so we had a HIIT session in circuits on Tuesdays which was a bit of a shock to the system, and swimming yesterday.

Charity place secured for London Marathon 2014

So some more excitement – got myself a charity place in the London Marathon next year!  I’m sooo pleased and get a little happiness every time I think about it.  Get to run London for a 2nd time!!

The charity is Look UK, who are a small, national charity helping families and carers of children with visual impairments.  While I believe that virtually all charities do good work, I’m especially happy to support the smaller ones that haven’t got the big advertising budgets that the larger ones do.  In fact, I only found out about this place via a post on Runner’s World.

I LOVE London, and was thrilled to run it in 2013.  I wasn’t planning on running it again until I got another ballot place, but I thought I’d miss it so much next time I couldn’t resist.  I’ve got a target of £700 to raise (plus the £100 registration fee), which is a lot but far less than what most charities require which is closer to £2000.  So it’s doable, and with a bit of sweet talk with the marketing and events team at work, may even be able to get some support for a decent cake sale event for the students.

Go on the runnerworld.co.uk forums and there are plenty of people who don’t like London, or say it’s not worth it.  Even to say that you’ve got a place results in a deluge of comments such as “oh – last time I checked there were 100 other UK marathons to choose from nowadays!” or “it’s just a circus through Deptford”.  Plus a lot of complaints about how people think there are too many charity places and not enough for “real” runners (although figures released last year did actually show there were almost twice as many ballot places as charity places!).  Hmm well everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and many people don’t like the hype around London, but I do!!  Out of the 5 I’ve run, it’s by far the best – only Berlin comes close.  I love the electric atmosphere, the famous landmarks, the capital city, and the way the spectators come out in their millions to watch and celebrate a great day of British sport.  As I was running it last year, I was thinking about how I would certainly love to do it again next year.  At the time, I was saying to myself I’d do anything to run it again in 2014!!  (Although by mile 20 I was vowing NEVER to run a marathon again!).  Afterwards I thought I would certainly love to do it again, but probably only if I got another ballot place somewhere down the line.  But I changed my mind when I found a charity willing to accept a much lower target than usual, and signed up again!

So that means next spring I get to run five marathons!  I’m starting to freak out a bit, but as long as I stick with the idea of running 4 of them purely for fun and not chase any target times I’ll be happy.  There are 2 back-to-back weekend of marathons – Brighton then London at the beginning of April, and then Liverpool then Kent at the end of May.  Half way between the two is Milton Keynes!

The plan is to train to run back to back longer runs at a slower but steady pace, so I can get round each but then recover as much as possible in between each race.  Ideally I’d like to run Brighton at a reasonable pace, around 5.05 – 5.20 (my PB is 5.03) and then rest for the next week with a few walks in between.  Seeing as London is just one big street party I will just aim for anything between 6.00 – 6.30 as it will be a chance to simply enjoy the atmosphere.  There will be so many first time novice runners going for that sort of time so I won’t be at the back!!

Then 3 weeks until the MK Marathon.  I’ll be able to get a decent few runs in, maybe up to about 10k, and just check out how my legs are feeling and avoid injury.  I’ll aim for anything under 6 hours! 

Another 3 weeks til the Liverpool Marathon.  I really only signed up for this for the atmosphere as there are loads of bands along the way, so I’ll plan to run/walk this one and maybe have a bit of a dance at each band – one every mile!  I’ll see how it goes on the day but it will be another slow one, so around 6 – 6.30 will be fine.  Finally, just 6 days after that (not even a 7th day of rest!!) it will be the Kent Marathon.  There won’t be the bands or crowds to pause and dance to this time, so I will pretty much need to do this one at a steady pace all round (which is why I’ll need to take Liverpool slowly so I can have a bit of a chance to recover). 

Not sure if this is actually going to work, or whether my legs will fall off halfway across Tower Bridge!!!  The thing I’m looking forward to is just an opportunity to run a few marathons purely for fun and not worry about a time – but it’s a bit of a step up as I’ve done half’s for fun but not full’s!  No doubt I’ll start regretting this mid-May! 

So by the looks of things, Kent should now be my 10^th Marathon, well within the target of 10 before I’m 30 J

The Roman Run 26.2

Last weekend I acquired a medal from an old local race, the St Albans Marathon from back in the 1980’s that no longer takes place.  I think it was cancelled back in the late 80’s or early 90’s due to low numbers. Now we have a regular annual half marathon and 5k, but no full marathon.  I was interested in this race and felt that since I had now come into possession of the medal I must now run it – by remembering it in this way, it would make a training run feel really special.  I will call it The Roman Run.

I realised I was able to do the run on the correct date (7^th December) which was really good – just 27 years too late….!!  But it did not give me much time for find out the route so I had to guess a lot of it but tried to include what I knew.  

To make it a special run but also keep it realistic and not let it totally screw up the rest of my training, I put some rules/targets in place.

1.   - Try to start and finish at the same place that the original marathon started.  However this was not really feasible due to new buildings, shops etc. in that area and making driving/parking then running there a nightmare.  So I decided to start and finish the run from home but ensure I passed through that area when I did parkrun.

2. -  Include Parkrun.  It was our 100^th parkrun so there were a lot of extra people turning up. I could not miss this and with it being so close to the original marathon’s start it I could run there, and then begin Parkrun as if it was the start of the marathon.  It was also good to run with a big group although I did feel a big over-kitted out for a 5k – with running backpack, energy gels etc. and got some funny looks! (I was also quite near the back this time and having run it at marathon-training pace did not get a particularly impressive time!).

3. -   Try and include as much as the original route as possible.  This was very difficult in the end as having only a couple of days to plan, I did not find out the route.  However I knew that the route went up one of the steepest, harshest roads up towards the town centre so thought I should better include that!  I had also heard the route went out towards one of the nearby towns, but as this was now all dual carriage way with a massive roundabout to cross, it would be very difficult to run it without the luxury of closed roads.  Instead I decided to keep as much of the route within the city as possible and include local landmarks.

4.  -  Keep it as a training run.  I didn’t want to push too hard and injure myself as the proper marathon training starts again after Christmas.  I’m running 4 marathons next spring (1 serious, 1 semi-serious and 2 for fun) and keep quite a high mileage all year round anyway so figured that if I did this very slowly and ran/walked part of it then I could get some early low-risk miles in the bank.  Therefore my only target time-wise was to finish before it got dark, and would take walking breaks frequently from early on!!  This also meant I would not count it as a marathon but just as a logged training run of that distance.

So early Saturday morning I set off for the first part of the run.  5.5 miles to Parkrun, then when I got there it was only 8.55am so I had to stop and hop on the spot for a few minutes before we got going.  Had a fun Parkrun – I imagined to myself it was the beginning of the marathon!  Afterwards I had a quick catch up with friends (trying to bribe them into running the next 10 miles with me but to no avail!) and sadly turning down the usual post run coffee and cake.  When they heard I had another 17-18 miles to run they told me to get on with it or I’ll cramp up!

The main part of the run was now underway.  Realising I had actually gone out too fast for the first part and then getting very cold in the queue to scan my barcode, it was suddenly feeling very tough.  A very steep uphill mile into town past the cathedral had to be walked, then into the face of busy Christmas shoppers in the marketplace meant I got more odd looks!  I even took a wrong turn here and started running my regular run out of habit, and had to double back!  This was despite having a map pinned to my running belt!  It was good to tick off lots of local sights, including:

The park that was old Roman capital city and remains of the surrounding wall

The remains of the Roman Theatre

The city Cathedral and grounds

The Marketplace, Clock Tower, various old pubs and inns

Old Roman roads still in use today as major routes into London

Other more local landmarks which have since been closed or decommissioned (including the old railway line and nunnery).

The lack of proper marathon training made this an interesting, if tough experiment.  With a proper plan I got round the Berlin Marathon in September in just over 5 hours, but now 2 months later I was walking long stretches by mile 14.  No worries though, I was not in it for a time today!  Miles 15-20 were very hard with a lot of hills.  It was quite lonely too now, Parkrun being several hours earlier and the excitement long gone.  I stopped off in Tesco for a chocolate bar and tried not to collapse at the tills (more odd looks!).  At mile 20 I saw a friend from work.  She thought I was mad but wished me luck.  On the home stretch now.  Strangely at 21 miles my body decided it was feeling ok again and I was back to running (well, slow jogging).  I think I was getting a bit confused by now as kept losing track of what mile I was at, or the time (somehow I thought I was at 5 hours when really I was at 6!), or even what street I was on.  Finally I reached my road, 26.2 miles!  I got in the house and had the best post-marathon goodies ever – a pizza, tub of ben & jerries, a bubble bath, a DVD and the 1986 medal.

So overall it was a great feeling to re-enact this old marathon which may or may not ever take place again, and a good sightseeing tour of places I rarely bother visiting in my home town.  In the afternoon I was able to go into town (in the car!) not only to do present shopping but get the medal cleaned up a bit and the ribbon repaired.  Post-run I felt very tired but nowhere near as sore as after a race marathon which was rather nice.  Total time including waiting for Parkrun to start, queuing for barcode afterwards, a quick chat, 2 tesco/loo stops was about 6h25m from leaving the house to getting to the end of my road (to think I am happy it was under 6 & a half hours!!!).

Thank you to the original organisers back in the 80s for holding the original marathon and inspiring me to run this time, and also to Parkrun for our 100^th run!

Christmas Countdown

So we are now in December, can't believe how fast this year has flown by!  I'm so pleased to have been able to finish 4 marathons, 7 triathlons and plenty more races of different distances and training in between.  Never thought that a year ago that would have been possible!

So hopefully December will be a quieter month to try and rest before the marathon training starts up again in January (there is one little plan I have though for next weekend, but not quite committed yet so will say no more!).  And as for carb-loading, time to swap the potatoes and pasta for a few mince pies and chocolate perhaps?

The next race I have is the Pednor 10, a small, local race between Christmas and New Year.  I did it last year and enjoyed it.  Other than that it's just training run/sessions and parkrun. It's a bit difficult to get out on the bike much now, as trying to cycle into work down dark, pot-holed roads to and from work is a death trap!  And let's admit it, I'm definitely a fair-weather cyclist anyway!

My place of work has a good scheme going on though, where you can join in certain "Active Students, Active Staff" sessions at the gym and around campus - weekly in term time and completely free!!  This is great as it means I've been able to add some different cross-training in focusing on strength, toning and core but without being another hard CV workout.  There are loads of sessions from football to burlesque fitness and are aimed at beginners and novices so a lot of fun to try something new.

So lately I have been trying gymnastics and pole fitness.  I mentioned the gymnastics in my last post, and today I went again and we did cartwheels, round offs and handstands.  Can just about do a decent cartwheel and round off but handstands are tougher than I remembered - I don't think i used to get dizzy when I was 15!  Plus my back was getting worse and worse after every round off which did not help.  There were a few more experienced students also training, to think i used to be that good!!

The other class I went to was pole fitness, which is basically a sporty version of pole dancing in the gym studio.  After an aerobic warm-up, we got into groups of 3 according to our experience level (me being total beginner obviously!) and went to a pole.  We were given various moves and stationary poses to try including simple spins and sitting on the pole.  Plus a lot of strengthening work such as pull ups!  if you think pole fitness is just twirling round a pole looking sexy, think again!  My arms were really sore afterwards and it required a lot of upper body and core strength.  I really enjoyed it though, it was great fun and when it starts back up in the new term i will try and go regularly.

Finally we had out triathlon club Christmas dinner which was really good.  It was good to meet up with people outside the gym/pool/parkrun etc and see what everyone looks like when not in lycra!  I even won 2 awards for the club race series league!  Novice female winner and 3rd female.  It was great to be recognised in my first season and good to know that some the races I had entered counted for something towards club points as well!  Next year I will try and enter another 1-2 races that count as well as our members-only races.

Tonight I have swimming, and tomorrow will be running and circuits.  Next week i hope to move running back to Monday lunch times as it will no longer clash with gymnastics, and it's nicer to go to circuits fresh having not done a run as well that day.