It's come around so quick but somehow there's now under a week to go until the Beachy Head Marathon. Richard gives us an update on how his last minute preparation is progressing.
Over the last couple of weeks things have picked up distance wise and with the weather getting wetter the off road running has had to take a back seat and the tarmac has been pounded.
The longest I had previously run was 16m back in 2010 and that was a flat 16m where I ended up really struggling the last 4 miles with runners knee problems. On that day I decided that 10k was enough with the Hastings Half Marathon once a year to be my long run. But since I decided that I wanted to do a marathon I had the mental barrier of not running well after 12 or 13miles.
So with that in my mind I went out plugged into my ipod, music going and ran comfortably for 15miles. Got home with no problem and even managed to better my half marathon PB by a minute. Another 7.5 miles midweek followed by a 10k at race pace on the Friday night on my own, again dropping my PB by 45 seconds to 41.43. Doesn't sound like a lot but I was over the moon.
Sunday morning was to be the run into the unknown. I arranged to meet a friend of mine who has recently completed his first marathon in Loch Ness (asked if he was seeing Nessie by the end of the race he replied "I was seeing Jesus by the end!"). I ran 6.5 miles to meet him in Ashburnham, did the 6.4 mile off road loop I've done before, managing to get soaked and muddy, before leaving him and running the 6.5 miles home. Total of 19.4 miles and the best thing was I didn't feel dead on my feet after running for the furthest Ive ever run and for the longest time I've run.
With just a week to go I am feeling confident and trying to ward off a snotty nose I may have caught from my 5 month old son.
Once race day rolls around I'm hoping for very little wind and overcast skies and to get to the end in one piece with a decent time. But till then I'm just eating and resting for the week!
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