Wednesday is washing day!

Wednesday evening and I am in the process of preparing for Saturday's run at Aldershot. Different run means different plans and be that this run is on a 10 mile circuit with a checkpoint at 5.6 and 4.4 miles I think I can dispense with a back pack but will take a bumbag for my gels and chews.

Glad I ran with my thin skin yesterday, it is going to be useful towards the latter part of the run as it is cool during the heat of the day and warm during the evening.

So kit is being washed and will be dry tomorrow ready for pre-race prep on Thursday. The race organiser sounds good with a great selection of foods and drinks but I am taking my kit as a back up....must remember to buy some banana milkshake.

Super Hero...surely not!

I had to laugh tonight, for some stupid reason I thought it was going to be chilly tonight so decided to wear my long-sleeved Thin Skin with my vest over the top (to hide the beer gut), my Buff as a neck scarf and my black cap. Stepping out it became all too apparent that it was in fact quite warm but knew it would cool down later.

I ran up the road and saw a neighbour...."Tee hee you look like Batman, Jerry" I laughed thanked them for the compliment having visons that I may look like Batman from the recent film Dark Knight but then thought that being the age my neighbour was she probably meant the original TV series starring Adam West.

Oh well, I think it was what she meant :-)

Atchoo

Here it comes, I knew it would probably rear its ugly head, the coming of a cold. I can feel my head getting all fuggy, a headache and the hint of a sore throat.

Add to this a dodgy hamstring, an infected toe and I have a feeling that it does not bode well for Saturday's run in Aldershot. I shall carry on with the Lemsip and general TLC and make a judgement call in a couple of days time.

To tell you the truth, I/we may as well turn up to get the race shirt and get a couple of loops in, I'll see.....

Medals

I was out in the front of the house and had a SOB job to do of cutting down some 70 year old ivy that had entangled itself of the gate posts which resorted to me having to use a reciprocating saw, rope and a bow saw when I was just about to finish the job the when our little 5 year old neighbour ran out of his driveway to see what I was doing.

"Wow Jerry that is great, what you doing?" he exclaimed

"Yes Sam, I need a medal for this tree cutting"

To which young Sam said "Hold on Jerry, I'll get Dad"

So I was left to carry on my work but a few minutes later Sam and his Dad returned but this time Sam was holding a HUGE silver cup and had a medal around his neck "Look what I got for Judo Jerry" so getting off the ladder I went over and it appears young Sam had received a medal and cup "For the best Player of the week" and it was obvious that he was extremely proud.

I asked him if he wanted to see my medal and then went inside to fetch it, going back in the hall to the front door, Sam was standing there and went "Wow what is that for?" I said "I ran to the seaside last week" he exclaimed "To the seaside wow" and looked in awe at my medal

We went out into the courtyard and Sam shouted "Here Dad, Jerry's got a medal, not as good as mine 'cos mine is gold and I have a cup and his is only brown(bronze)"

I have to admit, Sam's medal was much better but who am I to argue with a 5 year old

Sunny run

What a lovely run today, I met up with a couple of friends, Theo and Dave, and went for a nice, easy run. I felt a bit of a cheat as we started from Keston, the site of CP1 of the London to Brighton last week and followed the route for 2 miles before ducking off to Downe and a few trails I hadn't used before. Really great as I have now managed to join up to runs that we do and can lengthen or shorten either one.

What made today different from the usual ones was that the grass was covered in a thick layer of dew and the sun was low in the sky making the area seem to glow and shimmer with light. That and a nice easy pace just brought me back to Earth gently after last weeks mega-run, a great time.

Ask Albert

Back on the road again

I got back in the running shoes again tonight and went for a tentative run and decided to make it a comfortable distance just to get the wind in my hair.

Went for a 5 miler on the road with a few gradual hills to tease my legs, it is apparent that I have a little hamstring problemwhich needs to be stretched out and has been iced tonight.

So, in all, I am pleased to get back into the saddle and will take it easy over the next few days as I taper off for next week's big run.

Eating like a pig!

Over the past few days since London to Brighton I have felt continually hungry and eating like a pig. I have never had a reaction like this and it just shows how much that these ultra runs are taking out of me, incredible.

Looking forward to tomorrow as I will be venturing out for my first tentative run

New Plans are published

So only after 3 days the new training plans have been finalised up to 16th January 2010! So what is happening in the next 3 months. What makes it different from the other training plans now is the back to backs are still there but the Sunday runs really push the envelope. I realised that there had to be a little bit more push to around the upper 50 mile weeks to get the legs toughened as I was suffering around 35 miles into a run or my new secondary Wall. I'll see how it goes but there are some interesting cycle down weeks.

1. Caesar's Camp - 50 mile trail (3rd October 2009)
   
2. Greensands Marathon - 26.2 mile trail and hill ( 25th October 2009)
   
3. Gatliff Challenge - 50 kilometres - Trail (29th November 2009)
4. Country to City - 45 mile - Trail/canal race (16th January 2010)

Serious runs.....bring it on

Here we go again

...and so an epic race ends now another starts, Caesar's Camp 50 miler!

A little glitch in the race calendar proved to me that my planning can be a little problematic and have now realised that Caesar's is only 2 weeks away and not 3!

This run is thankfully a multi-lap cross-country race that bodes well for us as we can at least do this without family and friends as supporters and will allow us to run self-sufficiently. So many lessons have been learnt on Sunday that it is going to take little time to assimilate them. Ideas rushing around my head are to use the following:

• Banana milkshakes - YES
• Fresh oranges in quarters - YES
• Fresh bananas - NO
• Salted potato wedges - YES
• Carb Gels - YES but limited
• Sweet tea - YES

I have also learnt a new trick to set my Garmin to vibrate every 15 minutes so that I can feed something I failed to do at L2B and suffered as a consequence.....live and learn

London to Brighton - Race Report

The day started at 3.45am when I dragged myself from my bed to get dressed in my race day kit downstairs in the living room; I planned to wear my favourite kit, a short sleeved tech top, my high cut shorts, peaked cap and my trusty Union Flag Buff. After a cup of coffee and a scrumptious yum-yum I collected my other kit together to meet Mike and George outside the house to take a cab to the start at Blackheath, London. I still remember the cab drivers face when we told him we were racing and then his look of absolute amazement where we were ending up.

The School

We arrived in Blackheath and went down to the school to register and prepare for our ordeal. All around us were very nervous looking people staring into the middle distance as Mike, George and I chatted and joked nervously, I was the butt of the joke for part of it as there was great amusement as I stood in the middle of the room greasing my nuts and arse crack with Vaseline. We were soon stewarded out of the building as more and more runners arrived and the queue got longer and it was time to catch up with old race friends and buddies we had chatted to online.

The Start

On Blackheath we found the wind was up and even at that early hours the humidity was high which did not bode well for later on that day so at 0600 hours we were told to start our journey and with a cheer we started our journey of 57.4 miles with the George’s words still circling my mind “To think that 50% of these people won’t make it to the end” I was not going to be one of that 50%.

To Check Point 1 (Keston - 9.25 miles)

The first part of the course takes you through the suburbs of South East London and for the first 43 minutes of the run was a very dull, shallow and undulating run until the sun rose above the horizon. Conversation was about the challenge ahead, food intake and what drinks we had. Soon enough we went through Bromley High Street, not a person in sight apart from a string of runners being my main shopping area I felt comfy to be on home turf. We left the town centre to soon be in the outskirts of suburbia and the promise of trails about 3 miles ahead. The next 2.5 miles to checkpoint 1 was a steady up hill climb and we took the foot off the gas to let the legs fit the hill. Checkpoint 1 was within our grasp and we were met by my sister (with my CP1 snack bag), Michael’s family and a whole bunch of runners from our club all cheering and shouting out our names. Fed, watered the cheers and excitement slowly getting quieter we embarked onto the first trails ahead of shedule

To Check Point 2 (Limpsfield Chart – 18.5 miles )

At last the trails began and we stepped on to the first path and to our relief found them to be dry with a slight give underfoot. At this point we passed the Wilberforce Oak a famous landmark where William Wilberforce first discussed the abolition of the slave trade which became law in 1807 and then descended down and into the valley between Biggin Hill Airport and Downe, both famous, the former in its defence of Britain during the Second World War and the latter for the home of Charles Darwin. It was around here we saw our first casualty of the race as a runner stumbled and fell hard when he tripped on a stump; this was to one of many injuries and falls we saw throughout the race. A few miles down the road we were met by Michael’s family who provided us with more sweets and biscuits I declined as I was still feeling good after the previous checkpoint. We knew this route like the back of our hands and we had an easy run to the Tatsfield when we realised that the 10 runners ahead of us were no longer in sight which means they had gone wrong! Running through Tatsfield we saw another group of runners from our left, they were the group ahead of the last and had lost a good 15 minutes and added about 1 mile to their journey, poor people, 2 of them were to drop out later. Just ahead was another impromptu stop where we were given homemade chocolate brownies and a cup of tea by my sister…..thanks Katherine (my niece) for making them although I did hear one brownie went missing last night ;-) After 15 miles of climbing ( ~350 feet) we had our first serious descent of about 120 feet to take us to the road and then the first major milestone the M25 ring road motorway around London, from here it really feels as though you have left the city behind you and you are in the countryside, a few miles and some leg sapping long ascents we reached Limpsfield Chart where my sister and Michael’s family awaited us. Here I had a pint of banana milkshake and replenished my bum bag with carb gels and chew bars, we then left to descend to checkpoint 2 to be met by the organisers, some calling us by name and attending our needs!

To Checkpoint 3 ( Forest Row – 30 miles)

Up to this point we did not need a map as we knew the route and it was only after we left CP2 that we brought the maps out, experience so far had taught us not to rely on other runners, some who had never used maps and others who seemed to be willing to follow whoever had a map in their hand. I did not know the first few miles of this section but we soon worked out that some runners had arranged to get support teams to meet them at major route deviations and supports were happy to point you in the right direction. On arrival at Marsh Green the clouds were slowly dissipating to show blue sky and the sun to beat down on us unperturbed we ran on feeling strong and our hearts lifted as once again this year we beat the distance we ultrarunners aspire to push past, the marathon mark at 26.2 miles. This section was probably one of the toughest spiritually as it was the longest, hottest and with two major milestones the second being the halfway mark, from now I had another Georgism to remember “We can start counting down now” So we approached CP3 to be met by my sister and more importantly my Mother & Father. This check point was great and I was seen to tuck into 5 orange quarters, 4 potato wedges, a pint of diarolyte (electrolyte mix) and a handful of Custard Cream biscuits, fed, watered and a big hug for my parents the 3 of use traipsed off for the last 2 sections. “Come on you two we only have a marathon to run”

To Checkpoint 4 (Horsted Keynes - 38 miles)

To me this is the point where the race began, this section although shorter than the others was actually one of the toughest with numerous ascents, this was classic South Downs landscape, undulating is the best word but with this our pace dramatically dropped as we had to walk more and more ascents, the mood within the trio had become somewhat sombre as the last 30-38 miles were beginning to pay its toil on our bodies. A new comment stuck when Michael said “This Ashdown Forest area, it is a hard one” so true Michael, so true. Moral was lowering by now as we saw more people drop out with injuries and tiredness, we had been told that we were slowly moving up the field, not because of our speed but I believe we were taking people out at the checkpoints and others were dropping out. Up ahead all we could see was Black Cap the 250 foot ascent looming and so tantalisingly close.

To Checkpoint 5 ( Chitlington – 46 miles)

More of the same the last section but this time the paths became permissive therefore less trod upon and therefore more dangerous on tired legs. The mood was definitely tense within the group, I for one became more snappy and my patience was very short, this was me at my worst something that would surface in a later incident. So at last check point 5 was in our sights, my sister had our last bag of drinks and we set to have a feeding and drinking frenzy as I yet again demolished the oranges, potato wedges and some more water.

To the Finish ( Brighton - 57.4 miles)

This by far was the toughest, most stressful piece of exercise I have undertaken in my life, feeling nervous about the coming hill climb at Black Cap we ran off up the country road to see a car driving at speed towards us and narrowly missing me and Michael, it my temper I smacked his wing mirror, not hard, but enough to make the driver stop. It was apparent that the days efforts and my obvious reaction was not the normal me but my dark side, I can’t remember what exact language I used but I think my sister who was following us learnt a little more middle English that day. Crossing over a railway bridge into farmland and woods we could see Black Cap beckoning us, then it was upon us, no turning back now, in a matter of 1 kilometre we rose from 35 metres to 190 metres! If there was any time I wanted to give up, sit down to cry or curse to anyone was then. Any fit person would find it hard just walking up this hill normally but after 48 miles of downland running this was the worst I had felt all day, a seemingly endless drag of pain, exhaustion and thirst ensued and it was only until we got to the top did we see yet more undulating down land. So after physical torture we entered the mental one and the longest 9 miles of my life, one that saw me nearly get run over, see me trip on a protruding flint nodule and the blister on my heel finally burst. Michael and George were fantastic, Mike often reminding us “To do lots of little steps” and complying we went forward, little steps at a time until, in the distance you could see Brighton sea front, all things forgotten all we could think of was the end, the rest and a finishing medal. We saw the sea, the crowd of spectators, the cheers and at last the Finish…..bliss the end measured at 57.4 miles of tough cross country running completed in 12 hours 47 minutes and 10 seconds. At the time I write this it is believed over 50% of those starting did not complete the task or were timed out.

One tough, rugged race one I will do again at the drop of a hat.

Another craving

Absolute madness I know but I was thinking about some nice treats for my little jaunt to Brighton on Sunday and thought that maybe party sausage rolls were a nice little delicacy at some point around 30 or so miles. The nice things about sausage rolls are that they are packed with calories, fat, protein, scrumptious to taste and easy to digest.

Then again, I could just go for the potato wedges on offer

Just an idea George

Cryptic question....
I know we haven't got London to Brighton out of the way yet but was thinking....."Are you happy with just Caesar's Camp 50 miles or do you want to make more of it?" The clue is the picture

3 Days to go!

Kit List for L2B

Back pack (North Face Gulper with bladder removed) containing:

1. Small first aid pack
2. Compass
3. Map book
4. Tube of Nuun
5. Mobile Phone
6. £10
7. 1 x Buff
8. Toilet paper (thanks for the reminder David)
   
9. Pencil (thanks for the reminder David)
   
10. 2 x 500 ml bottle (1 empty, 1 full)
11. Food (enough for 1 stage) about 450-500 calories

Clothing

1. Runner's cap
2. Short-sleeved technical shirt (non club)
3. Shorts
4. Socks
5. Road shoes (Mizuno Wave Inspire 4)
6. Garmin 305
7. Gloves (possibly, if not in back pack)
8. Buff
9. Tri-belt
   

Kit to be carried by Support Crew

1. 4 x Checkpoint packs (food stuffs)
2. Banana milkshake
3. Jaffa cakes
4. Full first aid kit
5. Bottles of drink
6. Tube of nuun
7. Packet of Lucozade Sport powder
8. Vaseline

That is all for the moment, it will sure to grow but not by much. Can you comment if you think I need any other items please?

It has finally come

The facts about my London to Brighton training:

First entered - 1st January 2009
Distance run - 1,484.3 miles
Total time run this year - 216 hours 38 minutes and 34 seconds
Number of running shoes - 3 pairs + 1 pair of trail shoes
Number of injuries - 2 (stubbed toe and bruised metatarsal)

My last run was tonight when I ran with the slower group at the club just so I could have a very easy run and a opportunity to have a chat with some of the guys I don't normally talk with, great fun run totalling 7 miles.

natrix natrix

If in doubt, don't touch... then I remembered the yellow collar., it was OK, it was a grass snake....pheeeew

A video of London to Brighton 2008

This a brilliant video of a guy who ran the London to Brighton last year, it looked tough last year withthe bad weather, let's hope it is dry this year....enjoy

Final Brief Complete

Been to my Support Team's HQ (Read as Sister's House) and gone through the finer points of the London to Brighton race, Grid references checked and marked (in pencil) on the map. Estimated times of arrival at each Checkpoint have been listed and various hideaways for small stashes of food along the way have been agreed.

Eldest niece has even been bribed with a little money to put towards her making her some treats that will be provided to George and Michael on request but they will have to get in the queue behind me if they want some, I promise they will be worth the treat.

This Blog will be taken over by London to Brighton stuff this week so may be interesting to others, if you have any ideas please add them to the comments at thebelow each entry, it would be good to hear your views.

Last "long" run

It's the last 'long' run tomorrow (Sunday) before London to Brighton race and it seems quite strange to think that September has come around so quickly. My mileage has dropped considerably over the past week or so and have noticed the aches and pains appearing, let's hope the run settles them out.

Tomorrow's run will be a nice leisurely 10 mile run, probably through some trails and woods but plan to go out for about 90 -120 minutes. Weather is looking OK so the trails will be nice and firm.

Taper Madness

Germs

The fear of germs, infection and dirt becomes the first thing you think of when you wake in the morning closely followed by the other headings in this list but not necessarily in the same order.

Your once lacks-a-daisy approach to dirty running shoes, dirty socks and muddy trails is suddenly replaced by a packet of tissues, alcoholic keyboard wipes and sprays and amazingly toilet seats are put down and your computer mouse now smells of the latest "Kills 99.9% of all known germs" bleach. Family and friends are ordered to not hug or kiss you and keep at arms length at all times, their arms preferably being the length of the Jolly Green Giant.

Whilst the fear of swine flu is still apparent all comestibles containing porcine extracts are banned and especially if the pig sneezed at least once in its lifetime.

Weather
You now become an expert in all things meteorological, websites offering 1,3, 5 and 15 day forecasts are added to your favourites and checked every hour, just in case a sudden snow flurry in September is expected or a hint of a force 10 gale is in the offering in southern England. The TV is permanently tuned to the Weather channel and any person who dares speak or make any sound, however minor, during the half hourly updates is grounded for life.

You scan LinkedIn and Friends Reunited to find any past colleagues or school friends who may have suddenly become meteorologists and if so private mail inviting them to meet up for a drink, this is preferably done between checking the forecasts and listening to the television bulletins.

Details of Race
When not trawling the weather sites and listening to weather bulletins or cleaning off the keyboard of your PC with bleach and/or a blow torch you are constantly on the Race website or Runners World race forum.

You become an expert in Excel, particularly the Date & Time functions and how to calculate the average time of a run using the Goal Seek functionality.

In addition to the weather websites you also check the travel updates and know the main arterial routes to the start line and alternative routes if there is an accident, these are checked at least 2 weeks before in between weather forecast checks.

Distracted
Concentrating becomes very diffic.....oooh look a weather forecast has been updated on the Weather channel...nope better check if the RD has made any updates since 5 minutes ago...

As you sit in that all important project meeting you find your mind wandering, you then notice that you are not writing notes about the meeting, but writing lists of gear you should take.

Gear
Your running gear is continually being checked, washed and placed in a pile on the living room coffee table, any family member seen within 4 feet on the gear is ordered to step back....the gear remains untouched.

Cyclical thinking
You wake up, think of race,brush your teeth - think about how you will feel on the day of the race when cleaning your teeth at breakfast - you wonder if you should have jam or marmalade on your toast on the day of the race, you begin to realise that you are thinking about the race a lot. When you run up the steps at work, reaching the top you raise your arms and imagine that you have just crossed the finish line, coffee breaks are your check points.

You go to the loo and then you think of Germs....and go to the top of this list

Pleeeease can I go running

I am going absolutely NUTS, although I have been running on Sunday and Tuesday the drop in mileage and effort is really taking its toll on me. I am not sure why this taper is having this effect but it must be because it is much longer than I am used to as I normally taper off about 10 days before my previous big races.

I'll have to focus on what has to be done now, a run on Thursday, Sunday, Tuesday and then a good rest to focus on carbing up and resting properly before 20th September.

All healed

Last scab fell off the cut on my leg tonight after my little accident on 21st August all I have now is 2 x 4 inch scars which will soon clear up. Let's hope that is the last injury before the end of October 2009, I have races to run.

Getting the right mix

Tapering is going to be hard this and next week and I am only into my second week! Mileage is slowly dropping but running seems more difficult, I am assuming that this is my body adapting and healing. The little niggles are slowly going but I still have that feeling that I want to race down the road and do a 20 mile run....not quite caged tiger but getting there.

Tonight is an example, I ran the 2 miles and bit to the club, saw two runners ahead of me and decided that I would chase them down, within 1/2 mile they were eating my dust. Up ahead another innocent jogger became my prey and was taken down without a backward glimpse.....all for what?

The club run, 4.5 miles of Easy running and once we were over that a few of us ran off to get involved in an epic 1.7 mile tactically executed mini-race between us which involved taken a couple out on the hill near the end....

So I suppose the miles are down but the effort has now turned up a bit...just got to be careful not to get injured, got to get the mix right.

Reunited

Brilliant news, it looks like the Doyen of the Downs boys are reuniting. Hot off the press, ultraBobban (Rob from Dulwich), Mr Immune (David from Surrey), George and I will be running the Country to City 45 mile canal run on 16th January 2010. Absolutely brilliant, it looks like there is going to be a few ciders and a warm meal at the end......fantastic news.

Trail phrases

As always some of the best phrases can come up when you least expect it, one that I can claim as mine today when discussing our good friend Michael who instead of ultra training decided to go on some ludicrously short race of about 10 miles.

The conversation started along the lines of Michael's adventure and wondering if he had got a PB and I said "Apparently the shorter the run, the longer the warm up" I then added....wait for it dear reader, wait for it......

"All I need these days to warm up is a nice cup of tea!"

Spoken like a real ultrarunner :-)

Don't worry, be happy

This is a little note to Mr Jerry Senior...



London to Brighton is not a problem......Don't worry, be happy

Battle of the (race) shirt

You know the problem dear reader, you have a little lie in on a Saturday morning, after all, it has been a busy week, and then there is a call to arms when you find you have to leave the house in 45 minutes to drive your other half to work.

You realise that no shirts are ironed so you open the drawer and there in all its pride is one of your favourite polo shirts recently given to you at the end of a prized race.....Faversham Ultra. Proudly donning said shirt you run down the stairs to be scolded by your other half "Get that bloody shirt off you look like a pool attendant you're not going to the shops like that" mild grumbling get's met with withering comments so you traipse upstairs to look for another shirt......

.....there in the drawer you find another prized t-shirt, this one grey with a small logo on the front but with "DOYEN OF THE DOWNS 2008" emblazened on the back. All you need to do is keep your back to the wall when talking to the other half and all should be OK.

So Mrs Jerry may have refused one shirt but I still was able to get away with wearing one of my favourite race shirts to the shops. You can't keep a good runner down :-)

Weather Report for London to Brighton

I have to laugh, here is the report from Metcheck.com for 20/09/2009 the day of London to Brighton. I really, really hope the weather is like this.

Sun 20 Sep	0:00	5:59	16 °c	17 °c		4 %		4 mph
	6:00	11:59	16 °c	16 °c		13 %		5 mph
	12:00	17:59	20 °c	21 °c		38 %		5 mph
	18:00	23:59	21 °c	19 °c		41 %		2 mph

Overcrowded

Off I went for my usual Friday evening run around the woods and off to the nature reserve and back, it is usually quiet around this time and I can get around the 10 miles with probably seeing 2 dog walkers and possibly another runner. It didn't start too well when at one point I saw 10 teenage kids hanging around smoking dope and drinking beer down by the river, a mile later 5 mountain bikers overtaking me and then another half a mile two friends, so in a matter of 2 miles 17 people. Having met them we ran off together to yet again be overtaken by the bloody mountain bikers.

Saying my goodbyes to the friends I pottered off for the rest of my run and eventually dropped onto the road as it was darkening and finished my run on the boring road.

Feel good tonight, tapering going well but the body is tired and looking forward to the further drop in miles as my body strengthens.

Unexpected Goal

Wow, I have just reached 1400 miles running for 2009, that means I have run the equivalent distance to:

• Legnica in Poland and back, or
• Patras in Greece

At this rate I will easily beat the 2000 mile mark for 2009

It's getting dark early

So gone are the long evening runs and welcome the dark ones, even though it appears quite light when running on the roads when you go into the woodland trails it is getting quite dark and difficult to see the path in front of you.

I went out for a 9 mile run this evening and was quite happy to get out onto the road after about 8.00pm tas he trip hazards were getting more obscured, no injuries just an acute awareness that I will have to be careful over the coming weeks so that I don't get injured again.

Slim runners

So as George and Michael left the summit tonight they chatted to Mrs Jerry about me, my running, my life/run balance and after waved their merry ways from the hall. After they left Mrs Jerry turned to me and said "If you cut back on the cider, you could be slim like those two and not have a gut"....bloody cheek, but she has a point. I plan to buy this t-shirt soon

L2B Summit

The L2B summit took place tonight between Michael, George and myself as we discussed the finer points of our "big adventure" Most importantly was the discussion on pace and how fast we thought we could do each stage probably one of the most difficult things to do as we were trying to find an event that we could compare it to and to be frank it was almost impossible but it really made us think about it.

Maps were layed out on the floor, tea was drunk, biscuits eaten and agreements made, we were going by taxi in the morning and were to be dropped off at the start for about 5.00 am. I have now thought that the idea of running 56 miles was going to be the easy compared to the idea of getting up at 4.00 am, I mean it is just not natural I normally go to bed at 2.00 am!!!!

The Taper begins

Due to the change around in the training schedule caused by the long weekend I felt a bit tired today and was (secretly) planning to go for a recovery run of about 7 miles this evening.

When I got back from work I had all the intentions of going running but first decided to have a little snooze on the sofa for 30 minutes.....fatal mistake, 80 minutes later I was roused by the sound of my daughter playing on the Wii, woke up, felt rubbish so wrote off tonight's run........don't feel bad at all