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10th July, 2009
113 days to go until the ING New York City Marathon on November 1st and training has to start.
I am really excited by the challenge of running New York. The race is one of the World Marathon Majors and goes through all five boroughs of the city, finishing in Central Park. It has more than 35,000 runners, two million spectators and 315 million television viewers.
Starting to train for a marathon is very daunting. I remember back to early 2008 when I started to build up to the Edinburgh marathon - the task ahead is so big and incomprehensible you can start to think you'll never be able to do it.
One thing is for sure, Marathon training requires a lot of preparation and a lot of determination. Mental strength is key: both to pushing yourself out of the door to run 12 miles on a rainy Sunday afternoon when you'd rather be watching telly, and also to carrying yourself around the course, especially those final five or six miles.
Most marathon experts advise 12-18 weeks of preparation - with 12 as an absolute minimum. There are roughly 16 weeks to go now and it's time to step up to the plate!
The NYC Marathon website has training plans here
I am going to use one of those - meaning I will have run over 400 miles by November - and combine it with other activities - tennis, yoga, aerobics and weights in the gym.
My goal is to be able to show a marked improvement in my fitness and in my body shape and also to get comfortably around the marathon course without injury. WISH ME LUCK!
Monday 1 June, 2009
And so to my second running of the Edinburgh marathon.
And *news flash* I have decided that I like the city and the course and the atmosphere so much that I will run it ever year. But only as part of a relay team!
One year ago, having dinner to celebrate my completion of the marathon, my university friends and I dreamt up a plan to run the Edinburgh Marathon Relay dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Fast-forward 12 months and we were faced with the prospect of running the race as part of a very green and very silly-looking quartet...
The 'Hairy Haggis' Team Relay - its official name - splits the marathon's 26.2 miles between four runners and is designed to make race running more fun and more accessible.
Leg One is 8.1 miles, from the course start to Musselburgh, Leg Two is 5.4 miles, to Port Seton Links, Leg Three is 8.0 miles, up to Gosford House and back and the final leg is 4.7 miles and runs from Port Seton Links to the finish at Musselburgh Race Course.
Having entered, we devoted our entire weekend to to costume making and running. We carbo-loaded by eating pizza - in true Ninja Turtle style - and fashioned costumes from Peacock's Size 20 T-shirts... On the morning of the race we donned lime green footless tights and a lot of green body paint.
I was up for the first leg. At the start I was reminded of my longer run a year ago and what a massive achievement it was. I don't think that really sunk in at the time.
The start of the race is beautiful and goes down past the Parliament building, out toward the Edinburgh coast and along through the beach resort of Portobello.
The heat was really draining, even for just eight miles, temperatures were as high as 22 degrees Celsius with hardly any breeze. Ten people were taken to hospital and 160 were treated for heat-related illness on the scene, according to local newspaper The Scotsman.
I finished my eight miles in 1 hr 14 mins. The others notched up great times too, giving us a total time of 04 hours, 09 mins and 14 seconds. Only slightly faster than my solo effort a year earlier.
1st Leg (Me, Leonardo): 1h 14m 28s (01:14:28)
2nd Leg (Caz, Donatello): 55m 55s (02:10:23)
3rd Leg (Anna, Raphael): 1h 19m 11s (03:29:34)
4th Leg (Miller, Michelangelo): 39m 40s (04:09:14)
Well done team! See you next year.
We raised over £700 for Medecins Sans Frontieres
To donate!! Click here:
www.justgiving.com/ninjasgo
