Bluefin Flora London Marathon 2009 Team Blog by Bluefin

I'm heading off to excel this afternoon with the rest of the team. 6 out of the 7 of us have made it through the winter grind, injuries, ups and downs. My thoughts go out to Zoe who will miss out this time through injury.

At the same time I'm thanking my lucky stars that my injured hamstring has behaved itself since I started training at the end of Feb. Its still not 100% but I know that as long as I start runs slowly and get the muscles fully warmed up it should be OK. I've also survived shin splints caused by the folly of training for a marathon over a mere 7-8 weeks. I have avoided running at all in this final week to allow maximum healing time for those. I'm expecting them to be a bit painful after Sunday but by then it won't matter.

This is th essence of the FLM, people going through trials and tribulations, injuries, challenges, self doubt but I know the big day will make it all worthwhile.

I can't wait for tomorrow. The atmosphere, the support (especially the kids with jelly babies and the high fiving), the camaraderie, running/hobblingt over that finish line in the knowledge that you've achieved something that less than 1% of adults achieve in a lifetime. Yes running 26.2 miles is a massive achievement.

So my advice to everyone in the team or reading this blog is:-

1. start slow until your body has had time to adjust

2. enjoy the day, the crowds and the support. there is plenty of time later for pushing your body to the limit and you will need that determi9nation in the second half

3. don't worry too much about target time, run to a comfortable pace especially first half. If a good/ better than anticipated time is going to happen it will happen because you have the energy and staying power over the last 10 miles not the first 10.

4. high five the kids that line the route over the first few miles. smile wave and acknowledge the crowd when they call your name.

5. try to be strong over the last mile, the queen may be watching you as you pass Buckingham Palace. If she is salute!

6. Give yourself a massiv e pat on the back as you cross that finish line

Good luck all

Hugh

Hi All

This is probably the last chance I'll get to update the blog before the big run this Sunday.

The team had a teleconference this week to cover off the Saturday meetup at ExCel and plands for first thing Sunday morning - all looking good on that score.  We're also on target for our fundraising which is great news as I think it's probably the hardest of tasks!

We hope to get to ExCel for about 2pm tomorrow for registration / expo and look to meeting up with the WellChild lot - maybe stop off at the pasta party too (which seems to be getting more and more expensive each year - I remember when you got a t-shirt thrown in with the meal too!).

I've also been wondering if Flora are doing anything special for this marathon as it's the last one for them (Virgin next year) - it'll good to see what the medal design looks like too.

Just been checking the weather forecast for Sunday - talk about a contradiction...

BBC - Sunny Intervals 16 degrees
METCHECK - Light rain 10 degrees

As a runner I'm hoping for the 10 degrees with some rain, but for the supporters (my family included) I'm hoping for dry - so maybe a compromise 10 degrees and dry?!?  Who knows, maybe it'll be snowing...

Anyway, nearly at my station.  Good luck everyone who's running on Sunday and we'll see you all at the finish line...

Cheers

A.

Hi All

I can't believe that it's nearly here...all the training: the early mornings, the rain, the snow, the endless plates of pasta and rice...it all comes to a head this Sunday morning...FANTASTIC!

I planned an 11 miler last Saturday and ended up running 11.5 and at a much faster pace than I wanted as I needed to get back to pick Amalie and Emma up from a birthday party (7:44 per mile, which was faster than I ran for Reading).  However, I felt good and spent the afternoon doing family stuff and new car hunting.  All that remains now is to get plenty of rest, and stoke up on some carb-rich foods between now and Sunday morning.

I've arranged a telecon for the team on Weds to discuss any last minute things ahead of registration on Saturday (hopefully we can all meet up at ExCel).  I'm also putting together the itinerary of stuff to bring on Sunday - just trying to remember from experience what I've brought in the past.  I see the weather forecast, according to MetCheck, is going to be fair/sunny with temperatures ranging from 13-16 degrees (hopefully it won't be a repeat of 2007!).

Good Luck to the Bluefin/WellChild Team, and to everyone running London this year....it's going to be a cracker!

Cheers

Andrew

ps.  If you see any runner's with pink hair...give us a wave!

Halved the mileage this week and set out to do 10 today but miscalculated the circuit and ended up doing 12.65 according to my Garmin. Ran to Heart Rate as planned; started off at 10 min miles as a result and kept HR at or below 138 until about 6.5 miles then gradually increased it to a max of 148 (75%) at the finish. Overall 2:00:08 at an average pace of 9:30 mins/ mile.

Plenty in the tank at the end and an enjoyable sunday morning jog topped off nicely by dimitar berbatov this afternoon.

No more running for me. I'm in Amsterdam until Thursday and trying to get plenty of rest and early nights

Hugh