Virgin London Marathon - The deed is done.

Got the official result of the ballot at work today and I have a place.  Now the work begins...

 Carrying on the preparation:  Strava

Another go at the London Marathon?

An email came around at work today offering the chance to run the London Marathon for a charity.  This chimed with me for several reasons.


I've been very lazy for a few years and have put on a huge amount of weight.  I'm over 130kg now and I know from experience that a strong running regime is a very effective way for me to get a bit leaner.


One of the listed charities is the Motor Neurone Disease Association.  A few years ago, a close friend of the family passed away from this disease and it's an opportunity to raise some money to combat the disease and to aid sufferers.


It's been five years since I last ran a marathon and I'm keen to see if I still have what it takes.


Decision made:  I'll put my hat in the ring for the ballot.

Rebuilding

After over two months off, I'm now about a fortnight  into my return to regular running.  Predictably, there's good and there's bad...

Falling back onto the wagon...

I had a plan last year.  OK, OK.  Actually, I had two.  I planned to run an Ultra and to complete 12 marathons in a year.  The Ultra went well but I didn't manage the marathons.  I finished 10.

After the Preston Guild Marathon, it looked like I could squeeze in the last two in November but I didn't really recover for a month after.  Guess I was trying for too much, too soon in my running.  Just as I was getting it back together, I got one of those colds that settled in my chest.  Every attempt to run for pretty much the whole of December left me wheezing after about 200 metres.  And that was the end of that year...

Another two marathons in the pipeline.

After Sauternes in 10 days, I had nothing scheduled until September so I've booked a spot on a couple of interesting ones.

The Maraisthon is an EcoMarathon after a similar fashion to the EcoTrail de Paris that I did in March this year.  As well as providing a footrace through the Marais Poitevin, the organisers seek to minimise the ecological impact of the event and to raise awareness of conservation issues.  Even the winners trophy and finisher medals are to be made by "Master Confectioners" from the Garden Angelica plants that the region is noted for.  This will be in mid-June.

The course is flat and will be two laps of a fairly flat course around Green Venice (as the marshes are known) with a small extra loop in the middle to make up the full distance.  The course promises beautiful villages, riverside paths, lots of shade from trees and even some sections with the path is raised up on stilts above the marsh.

Then in mid-July I'm going to do a race that couldn't be more different in profile.  The Marathon du Pays Basque is at a town called Bidarray in the Pyrénées.  Fortunately, I will have a month between this and the previous one and even longer to recover and prepare to the Marathon du Médoc in September. 

Why so?  Well, rather than flat, even woodland paths this one is up in raw mountain paths near the French-Spanish border.  In addition, there is 3100 metres (almost 2 miles) of ascent during the race which is twice as much as the EcoTrail de Paris in half the distance.  Add the unaccustomed altitude and unpredictable weather and the whole thing looks like one of the biggest challenges I've taken on so far.  If I can finish this one, I will be entering the lottery for a place on the CCC in 2013.

After that, I intend to have seven or eight weeks of relative rest and recuperation before the next marathon in September.

A week of rest

Following the beautiful but exhausting Mont St Michel marathon, I've been a total slacker. My excuse is "listening to what my body tells me" and essentially it's been saying "Let's have a break."

Finally felt good today so I went for a little run.  I planned to keep the distance down to  seven or eight km but I felt  fresh at each of the decision points on the way round.  In the end, I covered 12k which is a nice way to get back into things.  A few hours later and I'm not feeling it too much so I should be able to get into a decent rhythm pretty quickly. 

After all, I've only two weeks until the next one at Sauternes.  I got my confirmation letter through the post which is so quaint.  It's their second year and, although last year was too early for me to try a run of that distance, I'm looking forwards to going this time.  It's even more local than the Médoc (already booked for early September) and seems to have a similarly boozy style to it.  I expect it to be a much more cosy affair, though, with less than 350 runners signed up so far.

I'm going to try to fit two more in before the summer pause.  The likely candidates are one in a marsh and one in the mountains.  More on those when I decide how to proceed but if I can, that will see me back on target for 12 marathons this year even after missing out on Apeldoorn due to the snow in February.

The challenge begins...

The next eight weeks promise to be the most physically challenging that I have ever had.

I was initially thinking of this as being like a roller-coaster ride but that's not right. Roller-coasters are fun because you surrender control and have to stick with it to the end.  This will be much more like the Japanese game show Endurance.  I can always choose to step back when I've had enough.  We'll have to see how far I stay the course(s).

Virgin London Marathon 2012

With the support of World Horse Welfare, I am taking part in the London Marathon this year.  I'm going to raise some money for a cause dear to Helen and the kids so it will be a great family project.

The date is April 22nd and if anyone wants to come along and shout at me (encouragingly?), you'll be very much appreciated.

I'd better get my running shoes on and get training.  Actually, given the weather just now, perhaps getting my skates on would be a better plan...

Mont St. Michel, here I come...

I've booked a spot on the marathon at Mont St. Michel.  The race is a point-to-point following the bay and finishing on this iconic island.  It promises to be something rather different and special.

The weekend is cancelled...

I had planned to go to Oostende on Sunday for the Nieuwjaarsrun but it has been cancelled due to coastal storms.  It's been set back 2 weeks so I'll try to go along then.

Two more marathons booked

This may sound a bit odd.  I've booked on a couple of marathons as they will be ideal training runs for the Trail de Paris.  They are the Midwinter Marathon at Apeldoorn, Netherlands (5/2/12) and the Scheveningen-Zandvoort Marathon, a point-to-point beach run, again in the Netherlands (11/3/12).

Doing an Ultra...

After getting approval from Helen (or at least, not too much disapproval) I have booked a place on the Trail de Paris.  It's an 80km event finishing in the centre of Paris.  Time to start training, I think...

Once in a Preston Guild...

This was a phrase I heard a lot as a kid.  The Preston Guild is a celebration in the town nearest to where I was brought up.  The Guild is a celebration that happens every 20 years, commemorating the granting of a royal charter to create a Guild Merchant in the 12th century.  Additionally, this is the first Guild since Preston was granted City status ten years ago.

As part of the sports festivities, there will be a marathon on 28th October 2012.  By coincidence, we plan to be in the UK at that time so I have registered formy place on this historic run.  Well, it won't be happening again for 20 years, right?

Booked onto another marathon

This one is the Midwinter Marathon in Spijkenisse, Netherlands on 18th December.

Whatever next...

Thinking about challenges for the coming year.  I have two ideas...

12 in '12: I could try to complete 12 marathons next year.

Ultramarathon:  I was looking at a newsletter from Zatopek magazine and it got me to thinking about maybe doing an ultramarathon.  An Ultra is anything longer than a standard marathon but, being me and constantly over-reaching until I fail spectacularly, an 80k trail run caught my eye:  The Trail de Paris.  It's unique points are that it's one of the very few trail runs that ends in a city centre and that the finish line is at the Eiffel Tower.  On the first floor.  I have decided to ask Helen if it's OK with her before I go ahead with this as it will occupy a lot of my time training for it.

Semi and Full Paris Marathons booked

To distract myself a little from the upcoming Amsterdam marathon, I have booked my place on both the Semi de Paris for the second time (4/3/12) and for the Paris Marathon (15/4/12). 

The Paris Marathon is recognised as one of the premiere events in Europe alongside London and Berlin so I am quite excited to have a place.

24 hour running event.

I will be joining a team of four people at a 24 hour event in Welle, Belgium.  The idea is to keep one of the team running for the whole event.  I figure that if I can do 5 hours in a single stretch, I can manage 6 hours across a day, right?

Got my bib number for the Medoc Marathon.

I am a number, not a free man:  2456.

Booked for Voerhoekjogging.

A local 12 km run in Vossem, Belgium on 21/8.

And one more: L'Ardennaise.

This is a 22.8 km run in the Ardennes which will be my longest run to date.