Fish Marathon Blog by Fish1980

I have been getting a little bit down about the fact I cannot drag myself past 13 miles but I have decided to make this a positive post and look at some of the things I have achieved so far

This week after a miles equals pounds incentive by Sian I have clocked up 23.5, which considering the circumstances is quite good especially when you add in the fact that I have also played squash and 5 a side football and been to the gym and had a small workout on the cross trainer as well.

The split was a small treadmill effort while at the gym of 2.5 followed by 13 miles followed by 8 miles, in the space of 7 days that has also included pancake day and my niece Madelene having a Birthday and me sharing her cake. Happy Birthday Madz!! Oh and some severe over eating at a rare treat of some Taco Bell. No Gandhi or McDonalds this week though!!!

The 13 miles barrier has really been worrying me, especially as the time is ticking away but like I said I have taken a look back and when I originally planned to run this 1.5 miles was a struggle especially as I was a couple of stone heavier. Throw in the fact a year ago my right cruciate was detached I think things are going ok.

I took a brief look at the running history on ipod and I was amazed at the miles and hours and even more so the calories burned clocked up so far (I will put some figures in my next post)

Anyway back to the runs the gym run was fairly uneventful as you would expect from a small run but I went at a good pace and battled the heat in the gym. The 13 miler was ok, I went out armed with ipod and radio through my mobile phone so I spent quite a while having to slow down and battle with 2 sets of headphones. The radio was to listen to Ipswich and I becoming more and more annoyed at listening to crackling sounds and not much commentary, especially as we were losing. The Norwich result did a bit more to perk me up on the way round.

I had the fright of my life mid run, as I turn a corner to run through the same secluded former layby that I have been running through since the start I was greated by a load of pikeys. I wasn't sure whether it was rude to run through "their land" but thought what the hell, I got a few funny looks but they seemed friendly enough although just when I thought it was all ok 2 dogs suddenly jumped out going nuts. I jumped out of my skin only to look down and see they were tiny and tied up, little chuckle and a few side steps to the other side I carried on only to find 3 more behind the next caravan on that side, luckily again tied up, quite scary I was nearly out but then I encountered the rest of the dogs (about another 5) so by this time I had around 10 dogs barking at me as you can imagine this sped me up a bit.

Anyway on I went wondering how I was going to finish the run without having to run back through dogs on the way home, I need not have worried by the time I got there I decided I was done for the day and opted for the stop at my parents house and get a lift home option. I had deliberately run away from my house to ensure I completed at least 15 but not allowed for the temptation of getting a lift, from now on all runs must go in the other direction!!

The 8 miler did go in the other direction and it was a struggle coming less than 48 hrs after the previous run but I got round. Notable things on this run I took a full lucosade drink and regretted having to carrying the bloody thing, unforunately the route didn't lap at any point so I couldn't put it down. I also really regretted not running the circuit in the reverse as through the built up villages the wind was behind me but in the vast open parts near the airfield in was like a gale in my face. 8 miles but I'm sure it should have been a lot more!

Anyway back to positives! I got my pack through for the Silverstone half marathon so no doubt this will be good experience for me and a much better test of how equipped I am. The nights are getting lighter as well making it much easier to really attack the evening running it will be a long 56 days but I WILL DO IT!