Back from my training run were I applied all the new running ideas from the earlier post and the good news is I survived. And I run for 3 hours 27 minutes. And my knees are kind of all right(ish). And I covered 33.3 kilometers. Sounds like a success, right? Yet I feel like I just made it. But I am going to explain this in my next post. Here I just want to post this silly video, totally unrelated…
I had now a full week of wallowing in self-pity. Its time to do something and come up with ideas how to beat my knee problems. One idea comes from running buddy Cathy: Having a marathon run/walk strategy doesn’t mean you are a loser. You can actually make respectable times with that. Later this week super MdS athlete Andy from work said the same thing: If you know from the beginning you can’t run the whole thing, plan in some…
The snow is gone and training should be back on track. Last Sunday I managed to do over 28k in 2 hours 50 minutes – despite partial snow and a 11k run just the day before. Today I tried to top it and to get confidence that I do can run for very long if I just start slow enough. My idea of “topping it” was a comfortable run of 3 hours 30 minutes, with no pace in mind apart…
Thanks to everyone for helping to reach the 30% fundraising target by the 22nd of January. Even though the running total is still slightly under, I got one verbal donation commitment on the day itself (which was my birthday by the way and the donation is my birthday pressie), but it’s not on there yet. Guess I have to chase my present up 😉 But the NSPCC knows and it’s all good. Have to start looking ahead though and see…
At 3:30pm I decided to do my run, despite snow, mud and fears. And I did 22k in 2 hours 16 min. Not my best performance. Do I regret it? It was definitely a challenge, but an interesting one to say at least. Running on compressed, icy and slippery snow is a different exercise altogether. Whenever I reached some snow free ground it felt like taking off skates after an hour on the ice rink. You work out muscles you…
The German football legend Sepp Herberger is known for saying “Nach dem Spiel ist vor dem Spiel” – After the game is before the game. The same applies to my marathon situation and I am quite aware of it. It did not take too long to get back on the road and between the Tiberias and London marathon lie 14 weeks, exactly the time I had to prepare for the first. My training approach is now a bit different though.…
I am at Tel Aviv airport and have some time for reflections and soul searching: Rain – it did rain a lot, before and after the marathon, during it not so much. Thanks God. Failure – I had a bit of time to digest my failing – kind of failing. I shouldn’t have gone for the sub 4 hours. Instead I should have run very easy, easy, easy till the end. But good news on the hip and knee front:…
It’s all over and I was rightly scared. It was not easy, despite all the training. Until kilometre 30 it all went rather well, but then I had to slow down and from kilometre 35 I had to walk. Running, not walking was one of my main targets! It was a very hard thing to do, and felt like failing, but I am glad I did it, because my top target was not to break myself. And even with sore…
I am at the Airport. Point of no return, I guess. Weather forecast says, rain, rain, rain. They gonna be kidding… I barely ever had to run in the rain during the last 14 weeks training in London and now I fly to Israel, people urging me not to forget the sun cream and it’s going to be solidly rainy all five days? Running a marathon in the rain adds a new challenge that I don’t really appreciate nor was…
While there is still a bit of time for the London Marathon in April, I am quite nervous about my upcoming trial marathon in Israel next week, the 12th of January. This will be my first marathon ever and I say trial, because I don’t intend to break myself or get injured, yet I am determined to finish it. I have been preparing for it for the last 13 weeks; hill runs, fartlek runs, long runs, recovery runs, threshold runs,…
It’s now several weeks into the fundraising and I am absolutely excited about all the support I got so far. Thanks to everyone who’s already given or wants to give. You are great! I now got an NSPCC running vest with the big letter on the back: “There’s is a child depending on me.” This is truly motivating and helps me to go through rougher patches of the training and preparation. NSPCC wants to strop cruelty to children in UK…
Did this Half Marathon on Sunday as part of my training for the Tiberias Marathon which is the test run for the London 2012 one. Must sound like I am a complete running nutter (which I would like to think of myself I am not), so I have to explain: the Tiberias is my first marathon ever and I am so scared of it, that I am following this specific training plan religiously. Per plan I had to race a…
Got my first company sponsorship this morning. The story: lost my bicycle rear light, so stopped on my way to work at my favourite bicycle shop to a get new one. Turned out that the guys there are not only keen cyclists, but also interested in running which led to marathons, barefoot running and  fundraising. At the end I walked out of the shop with one of these cool water resistant rear lights, with flexible silicone body and super easy to…
Stollen is a very sweet and traditional German Christmas cake thingy. I took some mini versions of them to work (and some nice Hanuta Wafers, which is a fond childhood memory of mine). Next to them a cup for donations. The deal: £20 in the cup by the point the last Mini-Stollen and Hanuta is gone and following week my work will see a proper 1kg Stollen. They did it and my fund raising barometer rose an other £21.66! Cool.
Thanks everyone for an encouraging start with the fund raising. Within the first 5 days (and without harassing anyone) 5 guys of you donated and gave the fund raising an amazing kick start of 7% of the total sum (£141.20 of the £2,000). It made my 2hours 20min training run that weekend so much easier. Thanks again, you are the best!
