Monday 18 April 2016

Brighton Marathon

I did my second ever marathon yesterday (no basketballs) and the weather was pretty much perfect in Brighton. My only other marathon experience was at London 2012 where (as some of you may remember) I raced in fancy dress. My London time was 03:56:02 and in Brighton yesterday I managed to finish in 03:39:30. The more I think about it, the more pleased I am with that time. For a start, people weren't suggesting to my family that they call me an ambulance this time! I was in a mess after London but in pretty good shape at the end of Brighton. And today, I was expecting to be really sore and struggle to walk properly but I'm in remarkably good shape. Yeah my legs are a bit sore but it's not restrictive. I'm amazed.
When I signed up for Brighton I wanted to go sub 03:15:00 but having missed three core weeks of my training programme following Silverstone (due to that partially dislocated rib) I knew that was unrealistic before I started. I headed off at Brighton hoping to finish in a 15 minute window 03:30:00 - 03:45:00, so job done on that front. I'm particularly pleased as I didn't get to do a training run longer than 17 miles, so the last nine were new territory for my body.
So now I have to start working on my upper body strength (not something I've ever been known for) so I can cope better with the additional strain of dribbling basketballs and running a little more hunched than you would ordinarily. Hopefully this will help prevent injury during training too.
I have decided not to enter the Liverpool Marathon on 30th May to chase that magic 03:15:00 finish as it's probably unrealistic to get fit for that in such a short window. I'll also probably not run the Midnight Marathon in Dartford on 2nd July as my bother-in-law announced his 40th birthday party that night the day after I signed up for it. So I won't have a guaranteed place at London for the record attempt. Hopefully the charity I want to run for will secure a place for me but they won't know until the end of the month, otherwise I'll enter the ballot (again!). I understand there may be a small chance of getting a place via my running club but if all else fails there must be a hundred other charities that would snap me up for the PR opportunities this would bring them.
The next race I'm signed up for is the Summer Shakespeare on 30th July, which I had thought was a 20k but it seems it may actually be a half marathon. They have agreed to let me run with the basketballs so I'm going to aim to break 01:45:00. I'm sure I'll run some other smaller races between now and then as there seem to be lots of opportunities now I'm a member of Petts Wood Runners. I'm also considering entering the Abingdon Marathon in October. But for now, I'm going to put my feet up and look forward to tracking all my PWR friends in the London Marathon this Sunday. Good luck everyone!
I don't look it, but I'm really happy.

Sunday 3 April 2016

Heckled (again)!

I think I've been to the Osteopath five or six times in two-and-a-half weeks and I'm still not fixed properly. I'm better than I was, but not perfect. I got a chance to speak to her on Thursday and told her that (assuming I wasn't going to do any long term damage) I really needed to put a long run in this weekend, given that the Brighton marathon is only two weeks away. She said that as long as it wasn't screaming at me I should be OK. So I ran just over 4 miles Friday night. I did Parkrun Saturday morning and this morning I ran 17.71 miles (it wasn't a planned route, that's just how far I'd gone when I got home). It felt really good to be running again and my back hasn't bothered me too much. It's aching a bit now but I was really pleased with how it went considering it's been three weeks.
I've been in the newspaper this week. An online article went up last Thursday and a print version was published Wednesday in the Bromley News Shopper. As a result of this, not long after I started running today, I got heckled by someone who (from the other side of the road) shouted after me: "Where's you balls?!" I didn't have time to stop and see who it was even though the teacher in me wanted to correct their grammar (but that would've been mean and pedantic anyway). If you haven't already seen the article you can find it here:
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/14381364.WATCH__Bromley_man_in_training_to_beat_bizarre_world_record/

So there are two weeks of tapering now before Brighton. I'm not going for the 03:15:00 finish I wanted to. I'll see how I feel on the day and aim for something between 03:30:00 and 03:45:00. It's a training run now.
I signed up for the Dartford Midnight Marathon on 2 July but the day after I did, my brother-in-law announced his 40th birthday party is going to be that night. So I have a dilemma. Now I'm considering the Liverpool marathon on 29 May to go for that magic 03:15:00. I still don't know if I've got it in me but I want to give it a go.
I've also been looking for other race opportunities to run with the basketballs. In short, the Windsor half have said 'no'. The Maidenhead half have said 'no'. The Bracknell half has stretches of grass, so no good. I'm still waiting to hear from the Tonbridge, Clacton, Folkestone and Severn Bridge half marathons but the Summer Shakespeare 20k have said 'yes'! As soon as I'm done writing here I'm going to sign up for it.
I'm not going out with the balls until after Brighton now so it'll be at least 3 weeks until I have anything to report on that front but having done 13.5 miles already I'd like to go for 15 miles next.
I'm sure I'll have something to say after Brighton though.