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Rapid Vienna

2012-01-30T09:47:00.001Z

I hope, like me, you had a great Christmas. I took some time off and spent the break at home in Cumbria. Even when you’re not in work, Christmas can seem like just another day at the office - you do all the work while the fat guy in the suit gets all the credit. Throughout December, I was fighting off a series of colds, which was annoying from a running perspective, but it provided me with a cast iron excuse for welding my lazy rear to the sofa over the Christmas period and moving only to throw another log on the fire. The enforced running inactivity means I’ve got lots of ground to make up in 2012. Despite throwing some impressive shapes at this year’s Christmas parties, the lack of running, coupled with some festive overeating, mean I’ve lost my Moves Like Jagger and replaced them with some Moobs Like Jabba. On Christmas Day, the temptation to stay indoors and enjoy the celebrations proved too much. I weighed up a run over the local fells against cooking up a storm in the kitchen with my new Christmas present, a Gordon Ramsay cook book. The chief difference between a fell run and Gordon Ramsay is that one is a pant in the country.....

The view from here...

Christmas 2011

Be all of that as it may, the long hours on the sofa gave me ample time to reflect on 2011 and look forward to 2012. For me, 2011 was built around the Liverpool Marathon, not only my own training but also helping Mel and Ron with their preparations. As I described in a previous blog (“With A Little Help From My Friends” – www.fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2011/10/with-little-help-from-my-friends.html), getting to run with Mel and Ron, in their first marathon, and with our family around us, was an unforgettable experience. Towards the end of the year, the big news for me was being confirmed as an official torchbearer for the Olympic flame on its journey to London. I feel honoured to be involved in such a great sporting tradition (even if it was invented by a certain Bavarian Corporal for the 1936 Berlin Olympics). My folks are very excited and already planning to be there on 20 June, when I’ll carry the torch on the Brough to Carlisle stage. Not all of it, I hope.

Other marathon news in 2011 included the sad death of marathon-running stalwart, Jimmy Savile. And there I was, thinking he’d ignored my letter to Jim’ll Fix It all of these years. You may remember that, despite being 46 years my senior, Sir Jim almost overtook me in the 2004 London Marathon (see “Jim’ll Fix It” - http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/01/jimll-fix-it.html). I’m not bitter. Talking of elderly marathon runners who should know better, Merseyside’s very own Anthony Gaskell finished the 2011 London Marathon in the fastest time ever recorded by a pensioner. You might think that posting a mighty 3 hours 5 minutes was impressive enough, but wait until I tell you that he completed the second half of the race in under an hour, faster even than the then world record holder, Haile Gebrselassie has ever managed. This super-human feat earned him, not only a place in the record books, but a plaque to mark his achievement. Before he received it, the 69 year old was found to have taken a 10-mile short cut. Gaskell was shown to have cut the course just after Tower Bridge. Far from criticising him, I wish I’d thought of it myself. In the interests of balanced reporting, I should tell you what he told the Daily Mail: "I simply walked through a short cut to the end of the course where my belongings were waiting for me. I had no idea that anyone thought I'd won." You be the judge.

The New Year provided me with a good opportunity to re-assess the blog’s target audience. From the “fan mail” I regularly receive at 5M Towers, I can tell you that it’s not appealing to vegetarians, Scousers, Brummies or the hard of thought. Sorry, I said that last one twice. However, through the magic of Google Analytics, I can proudly reveal that the blog is finding a receptive audience in central and Eastern Europe, which is a shame because I had a cracking gag about a pair of Cossacks. Not surprisingly, the UK accounts for nearly half of the readership, but who would have guessed that the former eastern bloc would make up over 21%. Russia alone accounts for almost 8% and, despite its relatively small population, Slovenian viewers represent 4%. Oddly enough, a massive 38% of the readership are not native English speakers. I feel curiously like Norman Wisdom. Ridiculously unfunny in his own country, but inexplicably popular in Albania.

Evening run in Bratislava, December 2011

In a half-hearted attempt to investigate the blog’s eastern promise, in early December, Jayne and I took ourselves off to Slovakia. Running through the freezing cold streets of Bratislava was very atmospheric. I could have chickened out and run in the comfortable and state-of-the-art air conditioned gym at the hotel, but where’s the fun in that? Instead, I got out and froze myself in the pursuit of a few more lame blog anecdotes. As I crossed the Danube, ice was beginning to form on the pedestrian walkway of the Novy Most bridge. The hazardous conditions underfoot, coupled with the bridge’s low handrail, meant a slip would have almost certainly seen me sailing off the side of the bridge, to an unwanted early bath. I gingerly retraced my steps and stuck to several laps of Bratislava's old town.

Now I know why Jay wanted me to stand in that precise spot...

Vienna, December 2011

After Slovakia, we travelled on to Austria. Running in Vienna was fantastic. I was surrounded by so many Wieners, it was as if I’d never left Manchester.

Catholic gilt

Stephansdom, Vienna, December 2011

You may remember the last training run I took with Mel and Ron before the Liverpool Marathon, among the Anthony Gormley figures on Crosby beach (see “With A Little Help From My Friends” – www.fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2011/10/with-little-help-from-my-friends.html). On my Sunday morning run in Vienna, I noticed that the figures are about to take a holiday to Bregenz, on the Swiss-Austrian border:

I hope that there’s less complaint in Austria than there was in Crosby about the “anatomically correct” nature of the statues. Each one is supposed to be a representation of the artist himself and, given the freezing cold weather whenever I’ve run in Crosby, a generous representation at that.

Jay at Schoenbrunn Palace, Vienna

Right, I’ve got an 8 mile run beckoning, so I’d better let you go. Next time, I’ll tell you about my plans for 2012 and a change in my running style from heel striking to forefoot striking. Right now, that Christmas over-indulgence is making everything hard work.

Lakeland 50

2011-11-21T12:39:00.009Z

July’s Lakeland 100 and Lakeland 50 ultra distance events were a fantastic success (see www.lakeland100.com). Despite the warm weather, there was a new record in the men’s 100 with this year’s winner, Terry Conway, the first to break the 22 hour mark. He looked remarkably fresh as he ran through our North Doodle checkpoint in Howtown at about 11.15am. My friend, Rosie, also had an amazing run in the 50. She took third place in a brilliant 12 hours 57 minutes. Her achievement caps two years of committed preparation for the gruelling race and is especially impressive following her experience at the event last year. In 2010, we were marshalling the Mardale Head checkpoint, where Rosie had to retire from the 50 due to breathing difficulties. Given how frustrating and disappointing that must have been, Rosie showed some real grit to not only come back and complete the event, but to finish in the top three. You may remember that Rosie was the other half of

Cumbria

’s answer to Baywatch (see http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2010/06/homage-to-catatonia.html), when we plucked a panic-stricken swimmer from an open water swimming event on Coniston Water last year.

Rosie, leaving the Howtown checkpoint,

on her way to third place in this year’s Lakeland 50

This year’s event has convinced Martin and me that we should sign up for 2012. Having manned North Doodle’s checkpoints for the last three years, guided recces of the course and run the route several times (admittedly, broken up into smaller stages), it’s about time we got stuck in. Given that we’re both keen mountaineers and marathon runners, and I live only a short distance from the start, we were starting to run out of excuses.

With Martin, Rosie and Tubbster at the Chapel Stile

checkpoint of a Lakeland 50 recce, summer 2010

Including the 50 in my planning for 2012 creates some new considerations of its own. On the one hand, I still think I’m yet to run my fastest marathon, so I’m looking at speed training over the winter, towards a quick marathon in the autumn. On the other hand, the Lakeland 50 is all about slower endurance running. As a result, the training for these two events brings competing priorities. Perhaps more importantly, running the 50 will undoubtedly reduce my chances of a quick time later in the year. The top marathon runners consider that it’s only sensible to run two marathons a year. More than two marathons and you can’t expect to be at your peak on race day. That might seem a strange thing to be saying on a blog which started life with five marathons in one year but, back then, I wasn’t expecting a particularly quick time in any of them. I’ll sit down with Laith and discuss the best route forward for 2012. I’ll be seeing him this week for video gait analysis and track work.

Making my way towards Coniston, Lakeland 50 recce, summer 2010

he track work is really enjoyable, even if it’s often the hardest training session of the week. The speed work we did in 2009 and 2010 produced the PBs in San Francisco and Vancouver, each of which dropped 13 minutes from my previous best. Right now, the plan is to work on speed over even shorter distances, then build that up to marathon distance. As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, most runners will focus on endurance training when preparing for a marathon. The thing is, I’m fairly comfortable with the distance now, so the focus needs to shift to getting quicker. I could endlessly run long distances and see only minimal improvement in my overall time. For San Francisco, we focused on improving my times over 5K and 10K, and then worked on stretching that pace out towards 26.2 miles. That worked really well, but to find the next level of improvement, we need to speed up the time it takes me to run a mile. We’ll therefore look at improved speed over 800 metres, 600 metres, 400 metres, 200 metres and even 100 metres. Who’d have thought that your speed over 200 metres would have any appreciable effect on your marathon time?

Rosie collects her trophy, Lakeland 50 2011

My preparation for the Lakeland 50 will doubtless be helped by my long runs through the hills around Shap. Since I arrived in the village nearly eight years ago, I’ve settled in remarkably well. That’s not to say there weren’t a few false starts. One freezing cold day in 2004, a neighbour in his mid-80s was out in the garden, trying to dismantle his greenhouse, which had been damaged in a storm the night before. At the speed he was progressing, he would have frozen to death before he was even half finished. In a show of neighbourly solidarity, I went out and offered to finish the job with my angle grinder and suggested that he go inside and keep warm. I got stuck in chopping the metalwork and, through a cloud of smoke and sparks, I left two neat piles of broken glass and aluminium. I stepped back to admire my handiwork and was approached by another neighbour, who asked why I had demolished his greenhouse. “What do you mean, “your greenhouse”?”. It turned out that he and the old boy had been falling out over the location of his greenhouse and, in my eagerness to be a good neighbour, I had inadvertently waded into the argument and settled it once and for all. I sheepishly picked up a couple of forlorn-looking pieces of aluminium, half-heartedly suggested that a bit of glue was all he needed, and made good my escape.

North Doodle’s Howtown checkpoint, Lakeland 50 and 100 2011

I’ve had more success with some impromptu legal surgeries over my kitchen table. Since word got out that I’m a lawyer, I’ve had several villagers ask me to swear the statutory declarations that are required for a grant of probate following the death of a loved one. These days, when I get an unexpected visitor, I simply tell them I’m very sorry for their loss and invite them in. The man from British Gas looked aghast. A while back, I even changed a friend’s name for him by deed poll. It’s not as unusual as you might think. People don’t necessarily go for big changes and often swap only one letter. For example, John Cleese used to be John Cheese, Frankie Howard became Frankie Howerd, David Walliams was David Williams and Brian Cant insists it’s the best £40 he ever spent. Talking of David Walliams, the man himself recently completed a fundraising marathon of his own: swimming the length of the Thames, from Oxford to the Houses of Parliament. As you might have read, his efforts were hampered when he ingested raw sewage along the route. Not entirely unlike a career in politics: you start off at Oxford and, if you can swallow enough cr@p, you end up at Westminster.

And finally, tonight on Channel 4, you might like to tune into

Britain

’s Greatest Codebreaker, a tribute to Alan Turing. I wonder if they’ll mention his tremendous marathon-running record (see http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/09/alan-turing.html)?

2009

FIVEMARATHONS

Barcelona, 1 March 2009 3 hrs 57 mins (new PB)
London, 26 April 2009 4 hrs 01 mins
San Francisco, 26 July 2009 3 hrs 43 mins (new PB)
Berlin, 20 September 2009 3 hrs 46 mins
New York, 1 November 2009 3 hrs 53 mins

2010

Vancouver, 2 May 2010 3 hrs 31 mins (new PB)

2011

Liverpool, 9 October 2011

HALF MARATHONS

Coniston 14 (14 miles), 28 March 2009 1 hr 48
Humber Half Marathon, 15 June 2009 1 hr 40 (new PB)
Congleton Half Marathon, 11 October 2009 1 hr 33 29 seconds (new PB)
Liverpool, 28 March 2010 1 hour 33 mins 14 seconds (new PB)

Noel Bresland - Bliss - http://www.justgiving.com/Noel-Bresland-223-Marathon-Challenge

Rebecca Gilbert - Kids (www.kids.org.uk) - http://www.justgiving.com/Rebecca-Gilbert1

Marco Giannini – Christies – (http://www.justgiving.com/marcos-72-mile-challenge)

Melanie Opmeer – Canadian Cancer Society (www.cancer.ca) - http://convio.cancer.ca/site/TR?px=4183630&pg=personal&fr_id=9870&fl=en_CA&et=Hye9JhsoIUUbQukLHAgi5w..&s_tafId=180683

Lisa Canning - Cancer Research

(www.cancerresearchuk.org) – www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/lisacanning2011

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

If you’d like to be notified each time a new blog is posted, simply email dunkvaughan@hotmail.com

With A Little Help From My Friends

2011-10-15T19:01:00.008+01:00

Welcome back to the fivemarathons blog! You join us in the warm afterglow of the Liverpool Marathon (www.runliverpoolmarathon.co.uk), last Sunday, 9 October 2011.

Liverpool saw a great turnout from fivemarathons readers, not just amongst the runners, but also the friends and family lining the route. 21 members of my family travelled from all over the UK, Ireland and Canada to watch the race and share Mel and Ron’s first marathon. Following stops in London, San Francisco, New York, Vancouver, Athabasca and Philadelphia, the marathons have become a great way to connect with family and friends from all over the world. On the eve of the race, we hosted a pasta party to carb up ready for the race. So many Vaughans in one place at the same time probably requires a licence from the Post Office. Just as San Francisco inspired Mel to run, Liverpool has inspired my cousin Mitchell and his wife Elaine to look towards running a European race, where we can all meet up again. Who’d have thought that marathon running could have such a far-reaching and positive effect?

Another Place: final training session on Crosby Beach

Sunday was also the first time over the 26.2 mile distance for my friend and former colleague, Stephen. After various half marathons, and this year’s Coniston 17 (www.coniston14.co.uk), the marathon was the logical progression. When I suggested to Steve that Jayne and I would arrange food for us all after the race, he modestly suggested that it had better be a cold buffet, because he wasn’t expecting to be finishing in a hurry. That’s the kind of heroic modesty we like. As it turned out, Steve had no reason to worry. He posted a fantastic sub 4 hour time.

TEAM Vaughan warms up

Despite a very shaky start, with a 45 minute delay to the start of the race, involving us doing the hokey-cokey, in, out and back into the starting pens, the race itself was a lot of fun. I was so proud to watch Mel and Ron keep working all of the way to the finish. It was a great moment on a journey which started over two years ago in California. You can read Mel’s blogs, detailing her progression from non-runner to committed distance athlete, at Journey Of A Thousand Miles (http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/08/journey-of-thousand-miles.html) and The Manhattan Project (http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/11/manhattan-project.html).

New Brighton

The Canadian flags on our race tops proved to be a big hit, and we met runners from Vancouver, Victoria and Nova Scotia. Out on the course, other runners regularly ran with us to ask where Mel and Ron were from, and to talk about their fond memories of the places where they’d lived and visited in Canada. You can check us out, standing under the Canadian flag, on the photographs and videos taken by our friends at www.run247.com.

The atmosphere created by the crowd on race day was fantastic, and few races can touch the energy created by the drum band at the exit to the Mersey Tunnel. Having said that, amongst the comments I’ve received about the race, there is a recurring feeling of disappointment with the route chosen by the organisers. Liverpool has so many unique sights: Lambananas, Liver Birds, girls shopping in rollers and pyjamas, and it’s the only town in Great Britain where JD Sports has an evening wear department. Not to mention a bridal collection. "Off-white shell suit, madam?". So, it was a real shame that we’d covered well over 12 miles before we arrived in Liverpool and even then there was no Metropolitan Cathedral, no St George’s Hall, no Anfield, no Goodison and, though the race took place on John Lennon’s birthday, there was no Mathew Street, no Cavern, no Strawberry Field, no Mendips, no Forthlin Road, no St Peter’s Woolton Parish Church hall (where another Vaughan first introduced Paul McCartney and John Lennon (see www.wikipedia.org/ivan_vaughan)) or so many other sights I could mention. It was a real missed opportunity to showcase some of Liverpool’s great architecture and fascinating history. You can make up your own mind at http://www.runliverpoolmarathon.co.uk/the-course/route-time-lapse-video/, where you can view the whole race route in just 5 minutes. I’m hopeful for next year. The organisers have at least conceded that there shouldn’t be anywhere near as many miles spent in Sefton Park. Mel and Ron will no doubt be pleased to hear that, after finding the seemingly endless slog through Sefton Park and Princes Park, without any landmarks to divert you, a real grind on race day.

Proud moments

My own preparations for the Liverpool Marathon were pleasantly interrupted by my nomination to carry the Olympic Torch on its way to the London 2012 Olympics: http://www.lloydstsblondon2012.co.uk/en/carrytheflame/Nomination/?nid=48674a33-641c-4502-90b6-82b076af53a3. A shifty-looking bloke running through the streets of Toxteth, carrying a flaming torch in his hands? It’ll be like the summer of 1981 all over again.

Fittingly enough, the race finished on Canada Boulevard: with Uncle Bob, Mel, Ron, Jill, Josh, Seb and Monty

Before Mel and Ron flew home yesterday, we discussed several possibilities for future marathons and half marathons. My cousin Neil and I have already discussed Philadelphia for another crack at 3 hours 30 minutes (and I might be able to persuade Mary and Laurie to join us in their home city), an autumn race would suit Mel and Ron, Mitchell and Elaine are keen to get running, and my folks are ready to travel whenever we name the date. Stay tuned, it’s all looking good for 2012.

With Jay

2009

FIVEMARATHONS

Barcelona, 1 March 2009 3 hrs 57 mins (new PB)
London, 26 April 2009 4 hrs 01 mins
San Francisco, 26 July 2009 3 hrs 43 mins (new PB)
Berlin, 20 September 2009 3 hrs 46 mins
New York, 1 November 2009 3 hrs 53 mins

2010

Vancouver, 2 May 2010 3 hrs 31 mins (new PB)

2011

Liverpool, 9 October 2011

Noel Bresland - Bliss - http://www.justgiving.com/Noel-Bresland-223-Marathon-Challenge

Rebecca Gilbert - Kids (www.kids.org.uk) - http://www.justgiving.com/Rebecca-Gilbert1

Marco Giannini – Christies – (http://www.justgiving.com/marcos-72-mile-challenge)

Melanie Opmeer – Canadian Cancer Society (www.cancer.ca) - http://convio.cancer.ca/site/TR?px=4183630&pg=personal&fr_id=9870&fl=en_CA&et=Hye9JhsoIUUbQukLHAgi5w..&s_tafId=180683

Lisa Canning - Cancer Research UK (www.cancerresearchuk.org) – www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/lisacanning2011

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

If you’d like to be notified each time a new blog is posted, simply email dunkvaughan@hotmail.com

Greece Is The Word

2011-07-17T17:51:00.008+01:00

Following my recent blog about the great Grete Waitz, regular blog reader Beverley told me that she had once run with the Norwegian legend. Apparently, it was in Japan with the Kobe Hash House Harriers (see www.kobehash.com). While a hash house may sound like something best left to the Dutch, my closer investigations revealed it to be something of a running institution. The hash runners follow a trail laid by another hasher (the hare). At a given signal the rest of the hash, (the harriers, hounds or pack) set off in pursuit. If you find yourself in Japan, it could be worth a look; they’ve been hashing every Monday at 7pm since 9 January 1978. Kobe’s website describes hash houses as “an international drinking club with a running problem”. I trained in Kamakura and Tokyo during the summers of 2000 and 2002 respectively and, I’m ashamed to say, the drinking (and the hash for that matter) passed me by. Probably for the best: Paul McCartney tried to introduce hash into Tokyo in 1980 and matters didn’t necessarily resolve themselves to his advantage (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-FmAXRKtws).

Shapanese running wisdom: wise words from The Greyhound pub in Shap

This week’s blog comes from Greece, the home of the marathon. If you’ve ever wondered why the marathon is 26 miles, this could be your lucky day. The very first marathon took place in 490BC, during the Battle of Marathon. Athens was under attack from the Persians, who had arrived at Marathon, a town conveniently located 26 miles along the coast from Athens. An almighty ruck had ensued and the Athenians needed a messenger to run from Marathon back to Athens to relay news of the battle. Pheidippides, who had already fought in the battle, was chosen, on the basis that he had proven himself to be a strong runner in recent Greek games. Sadly for Pheidippides, he was a short distance sprinter, with no experience of longer distances. Stay and risk getting slaughtered, or run 26 miles? I should imagine that Pheidippides was ambivalent at best. He arrived in Athens with just enough energy to announce that Athens was saved, then promptly collapsed and died. I’m sure most first-time marathoners can identify with that. Even mild shin splints have me Googling the telephone number for Dignitas.

Blogging in Kos – it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it

So that’s why the marathon is 26 miles long. When Athens hosted the Olympics in 2004, the marathon re-traced the original route, along the modern Marathon – Athens highway, which runs southwards along the coast from Marathon Bay. I suppose we should be grateful that it started in Marathon. If Bonnie Prince Charlie had decided to send a similar message on 18 December 1745, the eve of the Battle of Clifton Moor (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton_Moor_Skirmish), the last battle to have taken place on English soil, the marathon could well have been called a “Shap”. Shap is the village where the Young Pretender installed his troops before the battle and is fivemarathons’ home. Fiveshaps.com would just not have had the same popular appeal.

45 degrees at only 9.54am in Kos – better schedule that 8 mile run for 6am

The British Royal Family has to take responsibility for the seemingly inexplicable additional 0.2 miles that you have to run at the end of each race. As if 26 miles weren’t enough. When the Olympics were held in London in 1908, the 26 miles were painstakingly measured out, with the finish line just inside White City Stadium. The Royals noted that the finish was too far from their viewing enclosure for them to see what was going on. 385 yards too far, to be precise. The finish line was dutifully relocated in front of the Royal Box, and that increased 26.2 mile distance was adopted in 1924 as the standard. Prior to 1924, the Olympic distance varied from 40 kilometres in 1904 (St Louis), to 41.86 kilometres in 1906 (Athens*), 40.2 kilometres in 1912 (Stockholm) and 42.75 kilometres in 1920 (Antwerp). To my amazement, my run in Vancouver would have been good enough for me to have won the gold medal in St Louis. Thomas Hicks of the USA broke the tape in 3 hours 28 minutes and 35 seconds. I was born 100 years too late. I could have had a string of endorsements for running plimsolls by now and been sending the blog to you via the magic of telegram.

The morning before I left for Greece, I managed to catch an episode of Gok Wan’s “How To Look Good Naked”. Big fan, never miss an episode. Being too lazy to fetch the remote proved to be its own reward when this week’s stars turned out to be Macmillan’s North-West fundraising team and fivemarathons’ own fundraising coordinator, Marie Travers (see http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/2194440.macmillan_seven_bare_all_for_charity/). She kept that quiet. I can’t think why - the Macmillan girls looked great. I’m just grateful that I only had to run a few marathons. I don’t doubt that you are too.

Ticket sales for the fivemarathons live dates had been disappointing

Training on Kos is quite agreeable. Running through the worst of the Shap / Liverpool summer, on the other hand, wasn’t agreeing with me at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. I’ve had girlfriends that have agreed with me more. Matters came to a head, when I was lying in bed, central heating and winter duvet on, unable to sleep due to the sound of the rain on the roof, with only the thought of a freezing cold 14 mile run later that day to keep me warm. By 4pm, Jayne and I had resolved to take affirmative action, had booked Greece by 4.30pm, packed by 5pm and were on our way to the airport. My running now has an entirely different set of considerations. By 9am, the heat is already too fierce for running, so I’m up at 7am, running soon afterwards, then back for tea and medals on the terrace. Life could be worse. Just ask Pheidippides.

*The Olympics were held in Athens in 1906 to commemorate the 10^th anniversary of the birth of the modern games.

HALF MARATHONS

Coniston 14 (14 miles), 28 March 2009 1 hr 48
Humber Half Marathon, 15 June 2009 1 hr 40 (new PB)
Congleton Half Marathon, 11 October 2009 1 hr 33 29 seconds (new PB)

Liverpool, 28 March 2010 1 hour 33 mins 14 seconds (new PB)

Noel Bresland - Bliss (www.bliss.org.uk) - http://www.justgiving.com/Noel-Bresland-223-Marathon-Challenge

Rebecca Gilbert - Kids (www.kids.org.uk) - http://www.justgiving.com/Rebecca-Gilbert1

Marco Giannini – Christies (www.christies.org) – http://www.justgiving.com/marcos-72-mile-challenge

Melanie Opmeer – Canadian Cancer Society (www.cancer.ca) - http://convio.cancer.ca/site/TR?px=4183630&pg=personal&fr_id=9870&fl=en_CA&et=Hye9JhsoIUUbQukLHAgi5w..&s_tafId=180683

Lisa Canning – Cancer Research UK (www.cancerresearchuk.org)- http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/lisacanning2011

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

If you’d like to be notified each time a new blog is posted, simply email dunkvaughan@hotmail.com

Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before

2011-07-08T16:22:00.011+01:00

Since May, it’s finally been getting back to business as usual at fivemarathons. The looming Liverpool Marathon in less than three months’ time is no doubt focusing my mind. Last month, I helped with training plans for Mel, Ron and Libby, and was back training in Central Park - just in time for the launch of this year’s New York City Marathon. This month, I’ve been making friends all over again with the hills around Shap and venturing to Norway with Martin for our annual mountaineering jaunt. I’ll no doubt tell you all about it in a future blog.

Running in Central Park, April 2011: “I’m walking here, I’m walking...”

This time last year, we were getting ready for a summit attempt on Mont Blanc (4,810 metres) and various other high Alpine peaks. With mountains in mind, regular blog readers may remember my all too brief career as a Roman Catholic priest (see “The Devil Wears Puma” - http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/07/devil-wears-puma.html), when I officiated at Laith’s wedding in Great Langdale. The chapel at which I performed the ceremony is part of the Achille Ratti Climbing Club (see http://www.achille-ratti-climbing-club.co.uk/). The club is named after Father Achille Ratti, a parish priest from Northern Italy who was also an accomplished mountaineer. Despite discovering (with Giovenni Bonin and Luigi Grasselli) Mont Blanc’s north Italian route in 1890, and publishing the seminal “Climbs On Alpine Peaks” in 1923, Achille turned his back on a promising mountaineering career to become Pope Pius XI. If the Vatican looks kindly upon mountaineering accomplishment when selecting a new Pope, then perhaps my chances of promotion are not entirely hopeless. This was at the forefront of my thoughts as I set out in Pius’ footsteps towards Mont Blanc.

I travelled to Zermatt with Martin and James to prepare for our summit bid. We acclimatised and warmed up with ascents on Theodulhorn (3,469 metres), Roccia Nera (4,075 metres), Dom (4,545 metres), Castor (4,228 metres) and Pollux (4,092 metres). The twin peaks of Castor and Pollux, also known as die Zwillinge (literally, “the twins”), are named after the twins of Greek and Roman mythology, who were transformed into the Gemini constellation. The Jedward of the classical era, if you will. The principal difference being that Gemini has some genuine star quality.

Three Wise Monkeys? On our way to Castor and Pollux, July 2010.

Mont Blanc itself is a big undertaking. Fortunately, I was in a very good team. Both Martin and Jim are serious marathon runners, so fitness wasn’t one of our concerns. The conditions, on the other hand, can be much more unpredictable. However, as we left our hut at around 1am, things were looking good for a clear ascent. The mountain has some reasonably challenging moments, like walking across ladders laid flat across gaping crevasses. Easier said than done, on three hours’ fitful sleep, with only the light of your headtorch to guide you, and steel crampons on your boots making you walk like Charlie Chaplin.

Don’t Look Back. Mont Blanc, July 2010: one of the smaller crevasses we needed to cross.

About two thirds of the way through our ascent came an almost vertical ice climb. Fortunately, there are fixed ropes, already attached to the rock face, which you can clip onto as you make your way up, digging your ice axes, and the front points of your crampons, into the ice as you go. The route up is in a natural channel, so it creates a bottleneck as several groups of climbers converge at the same point. The amount of ice coming down the channel, and onto your head, displaced by the climbing teams above, makes you grateful you wore your helmet. You honestly can’t look upwards; you just keep looking at the ice face, as golf ball sized ice fragments rattle down on you from on high. I just thanked my lucky stars for the fixed rope and got on with the job in hand. As I reached two thirds of the way up, I got to the point where my fixed rope was anchored, and got ready to swap to the next one. To my horror, the rope I was hanging onto had been rubbing back and forth across the sharp edge of a protruding rock and only a few fibres were left holding me up. I felt like Wile E Coyote, gazing in despair at the rapidly deteriorating rope as the Roadrunner looks on with a grin, chuckling to himself as I disappear into the abyss with only a frayed ACME climbing rope for company. Worse still, Jim and Martin were climbing directly beneath me, probably using the same rope. Later, back at the hut, when I related the rope situation to Martin, he doubted whether, in my position, he’d have been able to even consider the cartoonesque humorous elements of the frayed rope situation. If fate is watching me, the least I can do is try to be entertaining.

Between A Rock And A Hard Place. Mont Blanc, July 2010: I’m the character on the right, clinging on with a heady cocktail of sheer terror and colourful language.

The remaining ascent to the summit was hard work but, fortunately, nowhere near as eventful. We were on the summit at a little after 5.45am, UK time, and it felt great. Unbelievably, my mobile phone was managing to get a full signal and I used the opportunity to make some suitably boastful calls to several non-plussed acquaintances. If France Telecom can get you a full signal on the top of western Europe’s highest mountain, why does O2 require me to stand on a chair on the top floor of my Liverpool flat to get even two bars?

The unpopularity of my mountain telephone calls wasn’t necessarily anything new. At the end of 2004, I was in Argentina for an attempt at Aconcagua. On Christmas Day, I trekked across three glaciers to reach a hotel which had been built two thirds of the way up the mountain. The whole hotel venture had not been at all well thought out. The idea had been to fly in the guests by helicopter, but they’d made no allowance for the fact that the guests would be arriving at high altitude with no opportunity to acclimatise. The first guests checked-in, closely followed by headaches, nausea and loss of bowel control. A bit like a package holiday to the Dominican Republic. The hotel was now largely deserted, with the building frequented only by mountaineers. It did, however, have a satellite telephone and that was the reason for my no-effort-spared trek across the glaciers. I got there and called my then girlfriend to wish her Happy Christmas. I had naively imagined that she might appreciate the effort, and the uncharacteristically romantic gesture. To my surprise, she wasted no time in telling me that, if I went away on an expedition again, she wouldn’t be there when I got home. I commented that it sounded like a win-win situation and assumed that the long pause was due to the satellite lag on the shaky South American connection. Losing a girlfriend can be hard. In my case, it was damn near impossible.

Finally, you may recall my incredulity during my recent visit to Seville, when Spanish supermarkets were giving away a choice of free carving knives every time you spend over €20 (see http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2011/03/inner-city-blues.html). It seemed absolutely bizarre and you didn’t need to be clairvoyant to see what might happen next. Sure enough: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/8513028/British-woman-beheaded-in-front-of-tourists-on-Spanish-holiday-island-Tenerife.html. Now I’ve seen Spain’s version of a customer loyalty scheme, I’ll be a whole lot less dismissive the next time Sainsbury’s ask me if I have a Nectar card. Come back Green Shield Stamps, all is forgiven.

HALF MARATHONS

Coniston 14 (14 miles), 28 March 2009 1 hr 48
Humber Half Marathon, 15 June 2009 1 hr 40 (new PB)
Congleton Half Marathon, 11 October 2009 1 hr 33 (new PB)

Noel Bresland - Bliss - http://www.justgiving.com/Noel-Bresland-223-Marathon-Challenge

Rebecca Gilbert - Kids (www.kids.org.uk) - http://www.justgiving.com/Rebecca-Gilbert1

Marco Giannini – Christies – http://www.justgiving.com/marcos-72-mile-challenge

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

If you’d like to be notified each time a new blog is posted, simply email dunkvaughan@hotmail.com

Born To Run

2011-06-23T14:28:00.009+01:00

Many thanks to Amy for writing her recent blog. It generated such a good response that I spent the next few days forwarding to her positive feedback from all over the world – New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South Africa and the USA to name but a few. So popular was Amy’s article, I’ve already received several requests from readers asking me to include their contributions in future blogs. What a fantastic result. I may never need to write again. This week’s blog comes from my good friend, Rebecca Gilbert, who is well on her way from complete non-runner to her first marathon in New York on 6 November (see www.ingnycmarathon.org).

Before I hand over to Rebecca, the big news is that my cousin Mel, and her husband Ron, have confirmed their places for the Liverpool Marathon on 9 October 2011 (see http://www.runliverpoolmarathon.co.uk). You may recall that, while I was running the Vancouver Marathon, Mel and Ron were completing their first half marathon as part of the same event (see http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2010/05/strawberry-fields-forever.html). Their training is now well underway, in rural Alberta, for the big step up to marathon distance. You can follow their progress, as their 16 week training plan begins (on 27 June 2011), at https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmvRQE8Gbr2CdFI4TDJOTWM0VG5QeEtranNjcVRmMHc&hl=en_US#gid=0. Mel may even write for fivemarathons.com again, to give an insight into the journey towards Liverpool. You can read her earlier blogs at http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/08/journey-of-thousand-miles.html and http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/11/manhattan-project.html.

Ok, so maybe I should start by telling you about how I got stuck in the world of running. A year ago, the thought of putting one foot in front of the other at any pace faster than a gentle stroll didn’t so much fill my soul with dread as total confusion. I just couldn’t fathom why anyone would do it – never mind willingly, and with self-motivation for the reason! After having my daughter, who’s now 18 months, I was dragged along to, what I thought, would be a nice social event called Buggy Fit. I had images of chatting to my friends whilst pushing Daisy, my daughter, around the local park followed by a nice slice of justified cake at the local farm shop. The reality was far from this. The person who took the class was a personal trainer who was there to, well, train. After having various bits of flobber pinched with callipers, heart rates measured and tuts over the state of my ‘vertical abdominal muscle’, I was feeling slightly miffed; couple this with being made to jump, lunge, lift and pelvic raise to within an inch of my life and I was contemplating eating the whole of the chocolate cake as opposed to just a slice. It was declared that I should lose 20% of my body fat and that my diet (which I had always been slightly smug about, ensuring that lentils and spinach made regular appearances) was all wrong and needed to go through a ‘radical transformation’. It was at this point I first considered running. Straight for the hills. I am, however, quietly competitive and horrendously stubborn. So I announced to my friends and family that I was going to get thin and fit. They laughed (quite a lot, much to my dismay), with one friend consoling me that it was a phase and I’d get over it soon enough.

At the Carlise Half Marathon with Jon and Daisy

The following week, I returned to Buggy Fit to find a much depleted group; many of the others had far more common sense and had stayed in the warmth of their homes. I had, however, armed myself with a really long list of excuses. When we were told that running would help us shift the weight, I very loudly announced that I had a baby so couldn’t possibly, and I walk the dog whilst carrying said baby, therefore raising my heart rate to a sufficiently high level to justify eating curry several times a week. I couldn’t possibly do exercise at any other time because I’m a mother… In fact most of my excuses revolved around the fact I was a parent… Adam, the trainer, just shook his head in utter despair. After many weeks, and much nagging, I decided that maybe I should have a go at this running malarkey, so I could say I tried it and dismiss it once and for all. I decided to look at the bright side: if I did it with non-parenty friends, it would be a great opportunity for a catch up and a chat with people I didn’t get to see so often, so I founded the Slow Jogging Club. We began by moving in something which resembled a jog for 30 seconds and then walking for 30 more. Slowly this progressed to really jogging for 30 seconds, then a minute, then two until we were jogging for 5 whole minutes without collapse. At this point our group had dwindled to two as Yorkshire weather had sent the rest running for their nice warm sitting rooms with mutterings of the pub and the word unhinged. I was beginning to get excited. I’ve already mentioned that common sense isn’t my strong point, and I proudly declared to my trainer that I was going to run a marathon. He stifled a laugh (he’s very professional and so would never laugh openly in my face), muttered something about Ben and Jerrys, and suggested that I would benefit from walking before I could run. It was with great indignation that I recounted this story to my running partner, who wasn’t so polite, didn’t stifle her laughter, and promptly opted out of any hair-brained schemes. It was the following week, as I was dragging her over the windy and wet moorland, that she complained her ankle hurt. I told her to not be so ridiculous and to keep going, which she dutifully did, for a further 3 miles. The next day, she turned up on crutches and with a pot on her ankle – something which I have not been allowed to forget since, (slightly justifiably).

With my running club: hiding in the middle, at the back

So then there was one, with no talking or chatting or catching up with friends, I decided I couldn’t possibly stop now – I’d told people I was going to run a marathon! It did amazing things for my training – without using all my lung capacity to fuel my mouth, I started really running. Not very far, or for that matter very fast, but I was definitely running. Friends stopped laughing and started inviting me to races – usually the HellRunner type (see http://www.hellrunner.co.uk) that they couldn’t convince anyone else to do, but still it was nice to be asked. One told me they loved the fact they’d met someone as nutty as they were when it came to personal safety whilst hurtling down a hill. I was still running alone in the evenings, as anti-social running times around Daisy, and not really being that good, meant that I didn’t really want to inconvenience real runners with my presence.

Hellrunner!

I attended local 10k races and started to be asked if I wanted to go to local running meetings, and I really thought about it, before dismissing it as a crazy thought. I mean I’m a Slow Jogger Club member – the only remaining one, but the clue’s in the name! All through this, my husband had been quietly supportive, only complaining that I couldn’t keep completely replacing my wardrobe every three weeks to fit my rapidly shrinking waistline. So it was with his normal happy manner that he got out of bed when I shook him awake at four thirty am and announced that I thought I should have a go at a half marathon and that there was one today, 100 miles away, that would be perfect. Quietly, he made a coffee, got behind the wheel and drove me to Carlisle. He fielded the confused daughter as she woke up in a car park, while I lined up at the start, and was there at the time that I said I should be finishing – in actual fact I’d finished half an hour before, completely underestimating my time as I felt that I couldn’t slow down when spectators were watching me. This set a bit of a precedent for future races with Jon usually arriving anything between 15 – 45 minutes after I finished the race. With a sub 2 hour half, I decided that maybe I could just try the local running club. It was with huge trepidation that I waited at the advertised meeting place. I knew I was about to be found out as the non-running fraud that I was. I was sent out with the middle group and puffed and panted my way around after them, up some ridiculous hills I’m not sure my car would make it up! As we reached the end, with me muttering apologies and promising never to darken their running door again, one of the group members turned around and announced “the new lass has done alreet and we’ll mek a runner owt of er yit.” I decided to persevere and found that, week after week, I was apologising less for being an embarrassment to the sport.

Neverthong 10k

I’ve now got my entry for the New York City Marathon and D-Day is fast approaching on the 6^th November. The enormity of what I’ve said I’m going to do is slowly dawning on me and I’ve begun to beg Adam and a running friend to help me out. Both have very kindly risen to the challenge and are trying their damnedest to turn this self declared cake addict into a sub 3.45 marathon runner. I keep reminding myself that it’s an amazing cause that I’m running for and, although I can let myself down by not completing it, there’s no way I’m going to let down the charity I’ve pledged to raise £1500 for, and the children who rely on it. To find out more about who I’m running for, please visit my justgiving page at www.justgiving.com/Rebecca-Gilbert1.

HALF MARATHONS

Coniston 14 (14 miles), 28 March 2009 1 hr 48
Humber Half Marathon, 15 June 2009 1 hr 40 (new PB)
Congleton Half Marathon, 11 October 2009 1 hr 33 (new PB)

Melanie Opmeer – Canadian Cancer Society - http://convio.cancer.ca/site/TR?px=4183630&pg=personal&fr_id=9870&fl=en_CA&et=Hye9JhsoIUUbQukLHAgi5w..&s_tafId=180683

Noel Bresland - Bliss - http://www.justgiving.com/Noel-Bresland-223-Marathon-Challenge

Rebecca Gilbert - Kids (www.kids.org.uk) - http://www.justgiving.com/Rebecca-Gilbert1

Marco Giannini – Christies – http://www.justgiving.com/marcos-72-mile-challenge

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

If you’d like to be notified each time a new blog is posted, simply email dunkvaughan@hotmail.com

Grete Waitz

2011-06-20T10:29:00.009+01:00

Just before I left for New York at the end of April, I read the sad news that Grete Waitz had lost her long battle with cancer. Grete was a marathon-running legend and tirelessly raised funds, and awareness, for the cancer care foundation she started in 2007 (visit http://www.aktivmotkreft.no). She was a marathon world champion, broke the world record on several occasions, and won the London Marathon twice (in 1983 and 1986) but she was perhaps most famous for her domination of the New York City Marathon during the 1980s. She won the event an incredible nine times (1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1988), a record which still stands.

27 April 2011: the Waldorf Astoria honours Grete Waitz

Waitz’s close association with the NYC Marathon began in 1978, when the race director, and co-founder, Fred Lebow, invited her to race. In her first outing, she not only won the women’s race, but finished over two minutes inside the world record, setting a new mark of 2 hours 32 minutes and 30 seconds. She would go on to break the world record in three consecutive New York outings. By the end of her running career, she had taken over nine minutes out of the world record. Her personal best came in London in 1986, when she ran an incredible 2 hours 24 minutes and 54 seconds.

Good to be back: running in Central Park, April 2011

On 1 November 1992, Waitz ran her last marathon. Fittingly, it was in New York, the scene of her greatest triumphs. She ran with her friend, Fred Lebow, the race director who had invited her run in New York back in 1978. They ran to celebrate Fred’s 60^th birthday, after he was diagnosed with brain cancer two years earlier. They both crossed the line in 5 hours 32 minutes.

Launch of the 2011 ING New York City Marathon in Central Park

Fred lost his battle with cancer on 9 October 1994. Ten years later, the reverse of my 2004 NYC Marathon medal was a pictorial tribute to him. Each year, a statue of Fred is placed at the finish of the race in Central Park. The rest of the year, it takes pride of place on the east side of the Park and is passed by thousands of runners every day. As I ran past his statue in April, a marathon runner had placed their finisher’s medal in his hand. Having completed the New York City Marathon twice, I can tell you the massive effort and commitment that it takes. Consequently, finishers treasure their medals (my medal from 2009 is framed at my Mum and Dad’s house), so it tells you precisely how much Fred meant to his fellow runners that one would leave their medal to honour his memory. Similarly, as the New York City Road Runners launched the 2011 NYC Marathon in Central Park, the city mourned Grete Waitz’s passing on 19 April. As I arrived on Manhattan, the Waldorf Astoria was flying a Norwegian flag as a mark of respect. On 27 April, I felt part of something bigger, as my early morning run took me from my hotel on Lexington, past the Waldorf’s Norwegian flag on Park Avenue, alongside Fred Lebow’s statue in Central Park and on to Columbus Circle for the 2011 launch party.

If you’d like to show your support in the fight against cancer, please visit:

Christies - http://www.justgiving.com/marcos-72-mile-challenge

Macmillan – http://www.macmillan.org.uk

HALF MARATHONS

Coniston 14 (14 miles), 28 March 2009 1 hr 48
Humber Half Marathon, 15 June 2009 1 hr 40 (new PB)
Congleton Half Marathon, 11 October 2009 1 hr 33 (new PB)

Noel Bresland - Bliss - http://www.justgiving.com/Noel-Bresland-223-Marathon-Challenge

Rebecca Gilbert - Kids (www.kids.org.uk) - http://www.justgiving.com/Rebecca-Gilbert1

Marco Giannini – Christies – http://www.justgiving.com/marcos-72-mile-challenge

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

If you’d like to be notified each time a new blog is posted, simply email dunkvaughan@hotmail.com

60 Seconds To 6 hours

2011-05-19T16:47:00.008+01:00

Welcome back to fivemarathons.com and a guest blog from a regular reader, Amy Worrall. You may remember that Amy ran the New York City Marathon with me in 2009 (see "Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants", 23 November 2009 - http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/11/standing-on-shoulders-of-giants.html). Amy's running has gone from strength to strength and anybody who has known her since before she became a committed runner will have seen a transformation.

When I first met Amy in 2006, she told me that she'd agreed with her now husband, Mark, that if she ran the NYC Marathon, they'd get married. Sure enough, they got married in New York (see photos, below) and Amy kept her promise in the marathon, even though that meant running with a dislocated bone in her foot! Many thanks to Amy for preparing this blog, and for all her kind support for fivemarathons. Run strong!

Whilst doing circuits around Manchester Town Hall a couple of months ago, I got speaking to a taxi driver. Granted it is a bit odd to see someone running 20 times around Albert Square, so it was only fair he should ask why. I was of course doing some speed work because I'd missed a club session, and it's hard to find places to run in Manchester which resemble a 400m track.

Amy and Mark in Central Park, NYC

"Why do you run?" he asked. When I replied "to lose weight", he said, "don't be ridiculous, there's nothing on you". And then it dawned on me! He didn't know I used to be overweight! I was making this new acquaintance with someone, without the constant strain and pressure of trying to hide my weight. I'd done it! I'd achieved my goal.

You see, when anyone ever asked me why I took up running, I said it was to lose weight. I was introduced briefly to running in 2003 by my then personal trainer, Ken Laird. He told me the only way I would shift the weight was running, and so it began: 5 mins, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, up to a full hour on a treadmill in the gym, with Ken there, chatting and generally distracting me. I felt so proud of myself, until I tried to run outside! It was a disaster. I could only manage, at most, intervals of 10 minutes, and I was devastated by my performance in my first 5k race: 36 minutes, after 11 months training. Shortly after I gave up the training, entered a few 10ks (had a baby) and continued to put weight on.

One day I had a madcap idea. Regular training was what I needed and the only way I would stick to it would be to enter something which, without the training, would be impossible. So, in October 2008 I decided to run the 2009 New York City Marathon. The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that this gave me 13 months to train, but boy did I need it!

Amy keeps her promise: crossing the line in Central Park, 1 November 2009

I decided to train up through the distances. Clearly I couldn't just embark on the marathon plan with 16 weeks to go, so I started small with the "couch to 5k" running plan. I had it pinned on the notice board, and clearly remember looking at week 5, where it promised I would be able to run for 15 minutes without rest. The first session, I could only manage 60 seconds' running, 2 minutes' walking and it took me 54 minutes to get around a 3 mile circuit. Over the weeks I did improve, flew past the week 5 target, and before I knew it, I could run 30 minutes. I gradually trained through the spring to 10k and started on the marathon training plan 16 weeks before the race. Training was good, hard, a big time commitment, but it soon became part of my life. I sustained a stress fracture in the 20 mile run, 4 weeks before the race, so unfortunately my race time was not what I hoped, but that 6 hours 29 minutes and 31 seconds was some of the most emotional time I have spent. It proved to me how determined and strong I really am.

But what of the weight loss? A comfort blanket of carb loading before all of my training sessions meant that I was still 2 stone overweight after the marathon! That, combined with a very sore foot, led me to question whether I wanted to run ever again.

Then I met Dunk's coach, Laith. Regular readers will know all about him and how he has helped Dunk perform his amazing achievements. We met at Dunk's fivemarathons celebration dinner. Something which I was in two minds whether to attend, so ashamed was I of my own time in New York.

I asked him whether he could coach me to be a better runner, a quicker runner, like he had with Dunk. He said "you don't need a coach, you need a running club". I disputed this. No way was I going to a club, with competitive runners, only to make me feel silly. He said it wasn't like that. I didn't believe him! What followed seemed like a job interview, at the end of which he agreed to coach me in the New Year.

I scheduled my first fitness test session with Laith in February 2010. I took my husband for moral support and began the test on the treadmill. Despite having run the marathon only 12 weeks earlier, I felt so unfit. I tried to convince myself that the test would just provide a starting point from which to measure my improvement, but it was hard to do. On the way out of the office, Laith and I discussed the results. He said there were some very obvious things to work on, but it was important I did some speed work, and that meant running at a track. AT A TRACK..........

The first night at Trafford AC was one of the most frightening experiences of my life. It was not the running necessarily, but being outside of my comfort zone. Everyone there was (and still is) quicker than me. But I kept going, week in, week out, through injuries and colds, and gradually my times, and my weight, came down. In 2010, my running goal was to get under an hour for 10k, which I did on the 5th September at the City of Salford 10k (59:55), thanks to Laith and his confidence in me. I also got to my target weight in August, and for the first time in my life, size 10 jeans!

I now train with Trafford twice a week, and Sally Howarth, my new coach, is a member there. I am maintaining my weight loss and speed. So why am I still going? The answer is really quite simple. I used to run to lose weight - it was a necessary evil - but now I live to run! I am a runner. Granted the first five minutes is still awful - I think it always will be, and the session never get any easier, but my sense of accomplishment at reaching another goal is such a buzz that it keeps me going back for more (4 times a week!).

Noel Bresland - Bliss - http://www.justgiving.com/Noel-Bresland-223-Marathon-Challenge

Rebecca Gilbert - Kids (www.kids.org.uk) - http://www.justgiving.com/Rebecca-Gilbert1

Marco Giannini – Christies – http://www.justgiving.com/marcos-72-mile-challenge

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

Inner City Blues

2011-03-19T20:18:00.014Z

Welcome to Gonzalo Quintana, our latest blog follower, from the Canary Islands. Gonzalo will be joining us on 9 October for the Liverpool Marathon (www.runliverpoolmarathon.co.uk). While Gonzalo will be travelling from Spain to run in Liverpool, I recently did the reverse when I spent a long weekend in Seville. Last year, in the run-up to the Vancouver Marathon, I considered de-camping to southern Spain for six weeks, to finish my training in the sun. A long winter’s running in the frozen north will grind you down after a while. Moving to Liverpool meant I missed out on my planned southern European adventure, so it was nice to finally get running through Seville. There’s nothing like a long Sunday run to really get to see a new city. Funnily enough, in amongst the classical Iberian architecture, the most striking thing was the work of Seville’s answer to Banksy, who happens to share my initials. Tempting as it may be, I’m going to avoid saying anything less than positive about Spain’s urban artistry. My unfavourable commentary on Britain’s inner-cityscapes has got me into enough trouble in the past. Through the magic of the internet, I once likened Birmingham to a plughole, “empty in the middle with a ring of scum around the outside”, and very nearly crashed Facebook’s servers with the vitriolic backlash wending its way from the West Midlands. Sorry Libby. One comment, from Ipswich, said, “Oi! My family originates from Birmingham!”. The fact that Ipswich was viewed as an improvement to Birmingham kind of proves my point.

While we’re on the subject, Roger, another blog reader, and a former classmate of mine, recently noted that the main road into the town where we grew up actually spells ASBO (the A580). For our overseas readers, an ASBO is an Anti Social Behaviour Order (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASBO), a badge of honour for up and coming gang members throughout the land. You may remember the incident involving the drive-by fruiting when I was running along the A580 (see http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2008/12/welcome-to-my-opening-blog-for.html). Oh, the irony.

Meanwhile, back in Seville, there was an odd incident in the local convenience store. I don’t know if this is in any way related to the abovementioned tales of urban decay, but when you spend over €20, you get a free knife. Not just one knife, but a choice of seven kitchen knives for you to collect. Much to the cashier’s surprise, I didn’t actually want my complimentary carving knife. Ryanair can be difficult over hand luggage at the best of times, without pushing my luck with an offensive weapon tucked between my castanets.

Curiously, for the whole of our stay in Spain, Jayne found it hilarious that the hotel had kindly written my name on my pillows (see above). For the hundredth time, it’s pronounced “ju-mah” not “dumbass”. Still, Jayne’s interpretation would have given French literature lessons a much needed kick in the pants. “The Three Museketeers” by Alexandre Dumbass. To be fair, it wouldn’t be the first time that authors of set texts have caused some juvenile giggling over at fivemarathons HQ. As Roger may remember, from 1985 – 1987 our two set history text books were by authors named Jackson and Ball. While our history teacher regularly started the lesson with, “Right lads, get your Jacksons out”, we waited in vain for a similar request for Ball’s worthy tome.

This week, I’ve been answering some queries from blog readers about marathon preparation. For example, what can you do to deal with the “wall” at mile 20 on race day? The “wall” is definitely something to avoid. Once you’ve been there, once you’ve seen what it’s like, you’ll never want to go back there unless you absolutely, positively have to. It’s like Blackpool. Not like Birmingham. At all. I’ll publish my thoughts on wall avoidance in a future blog. In the meantime, if you’re looking for a running GPS watch, this may hopefully help. Mary has joined a program at the Philadelphia school where she works. It’s called Students Run Philly Style and is a mentoring program based around running, with the aim being the Philadelphia Marathon. Mary is therefore looking at Garmin Forerunners and considering the 305 and 405, possibly favouring the 405 because it’s less bulky than the 305 and you can wear it as a normal watch. I’ve reproduced my thoughts, below: “I'm a big fan of the Forerunners - I'm now on my second. The first was a big brick that looked like a fat mobile phone had been hastily taped to my wrist (see http://www.heartratemonitor.co.uk/garmin_forerunner_101_reset.html). I've currently got a 305 (http://www.garminforerunner-305.co.uk/), which I love. It doesn't tell the time, which can be a problem at the big races - once you've stashed your kit ready for the race, you can't tell how long there is to go until the race starts. However, it has a choice of useful information - I use it with the screen split into quarters, with four key info items: current speed (in minutes per mile, or minutes per kilometre; total time elapsed; total distance covered; and heart rate. It really makes a difference to your training: you can see the improvement in your running and you also get to learn what different paces feel like. Equally importantly, it will help you push hard for the all-important speed work. I haven't used the 405, but they do look stylish. Just make sure that the read-out is big enough for you to be able to read the information you need at-a-glance - you don't want to be having to press buttons as you're running to get to the information you want”.

With Marco outside The Christie, after the first of the fivemarathons, Barcelona 2009

Those of you wishing to support Christies this year may like to support Marco Giannini’s worthy 72 mile challenge (http://www.justgiving.com/marcos-72-mile-challenge). You may remember Marco is the fundraising coordinator at the Christie and provided invaluable support for the fivemarathons (see blog “Harris & Ross” http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html from 10 March 2009), not least acting as our house DJ for the fivemarathons fundraiser at Manchester’s Press Club. Marco has already completed the Dublin Marathon, with Berlin, the Great North Run and several other races coming up in 2011.

Marco, immediately after the Dublin Marathon, October 2010

Noel Bresland - Bliss - http://www.justgiving.com/Noel-Bresland-223-Marathon-Challenge
Marco Giannini – Christies – http://www.justgiving.com/marcos-72-mile-challenge

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

Liverpool Marathon

2011-02-06T21:26:00.005Z

Since my last blog, entries have finally opened for the Liverpool Marathon (www.runliverpoolmarathon.co.uk) on 9 October 2011. I signed up within the first hour to ensure that I bagged my place. The race starts across the River Mersey in Birkenhead Park, before entering the original Mersey tunnel at about mile 12 and arriving in Liverpool’s city centre at about half marathon distance. Birkenhead Park claims to have been the inspiration for New York City's own Central Park, the location for several previous blogs. Birkenhead and Manhattan - spot the difference.

The Liver Building: finish line for the Liverpool Marathon

Interest in the race has been brisk, with entries limited to 9,000. There are guaranteed entries for the first 3,000 entries with Merseyside postcodes. This is great for me, not least because I can
get a guaranteed place, but also because the race finishes just minutes from my flat. Having said that, it might take a lot longer than usual to stagger home after 26.2 miles.

My friend Libby has also confirmed her place. My cousin Neil, who kindly paced me for the final 9 miles of the Vancouver Marathon (see http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2010/05/strawberry-fields-forever.html) has also shown an interest. My brother-in-law Vinnie has confirmed that he'll be signing up. Liverpool will be Vin's first marathon, although he's been threatening to run one for a long time. In fact, the first time I ever met him was the evening following the London Marathon in April 2004. He confidently predicted that he saw himself as a sub-3 hour marathon runner. A lot of Wagon Wheels have gone by since then, not to mention several lifetimes perched in front of Sky Sports, but he's adamant that the starting pen for 3 hour marathon runners is the appropriate berth for him. I'm looking forward to it immensely. A worthy round two to our international backyard free kicks tournament, which went to the wire in Stamullen last year. Hopefully, Vin can tell you about that himself when I convince him to write a guest blog for fivemarathons.com, detailing his preparations for Liverpool. As I mentioned in the last blog, he'd been talking about running the Dublin Marathon in late October, with his brother-in-law Macca, and his sister Mary (regular blog readers will recall Mary kindly hosted me in Philadelphia, including but not limited to a no-expense incurred recreation of the iconic Rocky training sequence on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUfWECjUNwg and http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2010/05/in-through-out-door.html). Hopefully, Macca and Mary will also sign up for Liverpool.

Jon, Jon, Jayne and a Liverpudlian Lambanana

When I posted on Facebook that I had signed up for the race, and that it would be starting in Birkenhead, an old university friend of mine, Wirral born and inbred, asked whether we'd be crossing the River Mersey via the tunnel or "doing a Jesus". I assumed she meant walking on water. After the upset caused by my "not a fair swap" gag in last week's blog, I'd better steer clear of that whole religious minefield. While you could be forgiven for thinking that blasphemy is a victimless crime, I have a bulging inbox to prove that not everyone agrees.

Ferry Across The Mersey

Marathon fever certainly looks like it has gripped Liverpool. Almost everyone is wearing a shell suit and trainers. I was sure that this had to be in readiness for October’s race, but my Scouse friends assure me that it’s entirely unconnected. All of my midweek training runs are in the city and I get to cover large sections of the second part of the marathon. In addition, the marathon will re-trace the Sefton Park sections of my run in last year’s Liverpool half marathon, so I’ll hopefully have some home advantage. The Ferry Across The Mersey (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferry_across_the_mersey) leaves from in front of my flat, so I may hop across the water for one of my longer Sunday runs to check out the course over there. There never seems to be any shortage of incident during my training runs in Liverpool. For example, last week, as I took a late night run along the waterfront from Otterspool towards the Pier Head, two foxes shot past, chasing each other as they went. The second one looked like he may have had a set of car hub caps under his paw, but I could be wrong.

Liverpool waterfront, with my flat in the middle

This month, Liverpool has opened an embassy in London. I’m not even joking (see http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a81ad20e-0a11-11e0-9bb4-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1DDHw9b79). Tune in next time, when Liverpool’s cultural attaché will be joining us for animated debate, Ferrero Rocher, several bevvies and, I dare say, a bifter or two. Right, I’m off to mend the bridges I’ve just torched with Jayne. Calm down.

Noel Bresland - Bliss - http://www.justgiving.com/Noel-Bresland-223-Marathon-Challenge

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

Between A Rock And A Hard Place

2011-01-03T19:45:00.008Z

Happy New Year and welcome back to the fivemarathons blog. Just when you thought it was safe to venture back onto the internet. So much has happened since the last thrilling instalment. Guiding the Lakeland 50 recce, summitting Mont Blanc and the Dom, marshalling the Lakeland 100, the Great Langdale half marathon, a last gasp away win in international backyard free kicks, and some sound advice to steer well clear of relating the Greek bank job I mentioned last time. That blog prompted the usual combination of quizzical emails and moral indignation. Maybe telling you about the bank job had better wait until the heat dies down.

Summit of Mont Blanc, 4,810 metres

This time six years ago, I was in Mendoza, Argentina, recovering from an abortive attempt to summit Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas. In fact, it’s the highest peak anywhere outside of the Himalayas. After almost a month of effort, we’d had the most terrible luck with the weather and had got snowed in at high camp, over 20,000 feet up. Minus 40 degrees Celsius outside of the tent, and never warmer than minus 13 degrees inside the tent. Three days and nights of that will put a few lines around your eyes. My beard went white overnight. Useful for the odd Santa impression at this time of year. On the third day, we finally got a radio message from camp one, relayed through camp two, that there was a brief window in the weather on its way, and we decided it was now or never to make good our descent to base camp. The air is desperately thin at that altitude which makes it hard to breathe. Having to cover your face with goggles and a mask, to keep the snow out, and the extreme cold off your face, makes it even harder to get the oxygen you need. Not ideal conditions to be carting a heavy pack down the mountain as fast as your aching legs will carry you. As a result, my then climbing partner fainted and slid face first down the mountainside. I ascended towards him, as quickly as I could, but the lack of oxygen made my progress desperately slow. When I finally got there, I attempted to turn him over so I could try to bring him around. My efforts were hampered by his limp body sliding down the icy mountainside. To resolve the situation, I prised his ice axe from his hand and set about forcing it, between his back and his pack, down into the ice. At that very moment, he regained consciousness and looked up to see me hovering the pointy end of the ice axe above his head, about to drive it downwards. He hurriedly shouted, “I’m alive!”. To this day, I haven’t asked him what he meant. Perhaps he assumed I thought he was almost dead, and was about to finish him off.

Once safely off the mountain, we made our way back to the relative comfort of Mendoza to shower and eat properly for the first time in weeks. On New Year’s Eve, we went for dinner with a fellow mountaineer called Aron Ralston. You may have read his autobiographical book, “Between A Rock And A Hard Place”, or even watched the new Danny Boyle film, “127 Hours”. The film is a dramatisation of Aron’s 2003 canyoneering accident in Utah, when his arm became trapped under a rock and he was forced to amputate his lower right arm, using only a blunt knife, to free himself. He was remarkably open and pragmatic about his accident. He even used the grip on his prosthetic arm to grasp walnuts, and break them on the table. This neat trick, prompted my climbing partner to lean forward, look at the prosthetic arm, point towards the broken nut, and venture with a smile, “Every cloud....”. I put the gross tactlessness down to hypoxia from the mountain, coupled with too much Argentinian red wine. Things took an even more bizarre turn, when another one of the team decided to relate the tale of a friend’s mother, who had apparently had a leg amputated several years earlier. He explained that, although she’d lost her leg, she’d found God. My friend commented that it didn’t sound like a very fair swap.

With Jim and Martin on the summit of the Dom, 4,545 metres

2010 was a great year for Wigan’s Jenny Meadows. In February, she broke the British indoor 800 metre record, a record she broke again the following month with her silver medal-winning performance in the World Indoor Championships in Doha. In July, she won the 800 metres at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona. You can therefore imagine how proud I am to be sharing an advert with Jenny for Harris and Ross: http://static.london-marathon.co.uk/injury_clinic/enhanced_pages/harris_and_ross/manchester.html. At first glance, Jenny and I might seem like an odd combination. After all, one of us is a world class athlete and the other one is running around at the back of distance races, vainly struggling to keep up with the chaps dressed as rhinos. I’ll leave you to figure out who is who.

Cosmiques Arete, Swiss Alps

2011 is shaping up to be an interesting running year for me. At the moment, I’m beginning a long road back to full fitness, after struggling ever since the Vancouver Marathon in early May. Running with a virus, really knocked me sideways. Although I’m feeling strong again now, I’ve lost a great deal of fitness and conditioning. I’m looking forward to the challenge, with the Coniston 14 (or rather 17) booked in for April and a possible relaxed marathon in the autumn. My brother-in-law, Vinnie, is threatening to run Dublin in October, so I may join him there!

Noel Bresland - Bliss - http://www.justgiving.com/Noel-Bresland-223-Marathon-Challenge

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

Homage To Catatonia

2010-06-09T23:29:00.010+01:00

It has been another packed week at fivemarathons HQ. Just the usual: training plans, food allergy tests and saving lives. Last Sunday, I was on Coniston Water, paddling one of the safety canoes for Epic Events' open water swim event. For the 3.8km race, one of the competitors went into shock and started to quietly freak out. Cue the Baywatch theme tune as Rosie and I raced over. Despite my various attempts at polite enquiry, we couldn't get a word out of our rescuee. Nevertheless, we managed to pull her out of the water and into the canoe. The whole thing was a bit surreal; she had a fixed thousand yard stare, looking straight through me and not saying a word. Admittedly, she’s not the first woman to have been rendered catatonic by my arrival. It was like university all over again. However, something was obviously badly wrong; she was less than 200 metres into the race. We paddled back to the marshals and turned our patient over to their care. I could get used to the whole David Hasselhoff routine, although I’m not sure that the red shorts would be all that well-received in rural Cumbria.

Baywatch: Cumbria branch

Perhaps surprisingly, Sunday was not my first attempt at lifesaving. Some time back in the early 90s, I was on a train journey from Caen to Paris. It was absolutely packed, and I ended up propped up against a door, next to a British backpacker, who muttered to me that he wished we could get seats. Only seconds later, the large gentleman opposite us started to complain that he felt unwell. We passed over a bottle of water, but things took a turn for the worse when he started to complain of pain in his arm and clutch his chest. You didn’t need to be Dr Kildare to realise that he was having a heart attack and, if we didn’t help him quickly, matters would not necessarily resolve themselves to his advantage. I don’t know about the backpacker, but my own heart must have been doing 180 bpm minimum. We pulled the communication chord and I explained the background to the guard in phrasebook French. Having asked each other the way to the beach in increasingly loud voices, we made him understand the gravity of the situation. He used his radio and confirmed that the paramedics would be waiting for us at the next station, just 10 minutes away. The air was thick with prayer. By now, our man had passed out, and all I could do was try to keep track of his pulse and make sure he was still breathing. Had it been a few years later, I might have been ideally positioned to have administered the last rites (see “The Devil Wears Puma”, http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/07/devil-wears-puma.html). As we finally arrived at the station, I was aghast when we realised that the paramedics weren’t there. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally arrived, and we managed to manhandle the patient off the train as best we could. What an unbelievable stress. As the backpacker and I finally dropped down onto the seats vacated by the sick man and his wife, he turned to me ashen-faced and said, “My goodness, I really didn’t want a seat that much”. There may have been marginally more swearing, but that was the upshot. Be careful what you wish for.

"Are we there yet?": Final straight in Vancouver

On the Sunday evening, fresh from our Baywatch heroics, Rosie and I went on a great fell run over Winder Fell and Arant Haw. While it should have been great preparation for my forthcoming off-road races, I found that my stomach was cramping again. I was quite tired afterwards, and my legs took a long time to recover. Something is obviously not right. Ever since Vancouver, I’ve felt weak during my training runs and generally tired. Fortunately, last week, Jess had arranged for me to visit Keith Knight at Balanced Health (keithknight1954@yahoo.co.uk / 07961 381694) for some food intolerance / sensitivity testing. I’d already figured that I’d developed a wheat intolerance, but Keith’s tests revealed so much more. For example, I’m not responding well to grapes, citrus fruits, olives, marmite, sugars (and artificial sweeteners), mushrooms, green peppers, alcohol, nuts and MSG. Crikey, no more boozy nights in the pub eating bar snacks, followed by a cheeky Chinese takeaway on the way home. Keith’s test results, and his analysis, made a lot of sense. Basically, my digestive system is out of balance – too much yeast and not enough lactobacillus (the friendly bacteria made famous by the Yakult advertisements). The yeast issue will undoubtedly stem from the 6 bagels a day I was putting away during my training for the fivemarathons. For reasons even harder to digest than 42 bagels a week, I haven’t been converting all of the food I’ve been eating into energy. As Keith put it, “you’d have been getting just as much nutrition by eating the box the food came in”. By about 8pm each evening, I was really starting to crash and crave sugar. Lucy and Amanda were both suitably surprised to see me reaching for a Cadbury’s Double Decker the night before the Edinburgh marathon. Not the virtuous diet they’d come to expect!

TEAM Vaughan crosses the finish line: with my cousins Melanie and Neil in Vancouver

To further complicate matters, my immune system has been overloaded trying to deal with some of the side effects of my misfiring digestive system. This almost certainly explains why it’s taken so long to shake off the cold virus I picked up a week before Vancouver. The lack of nutrition could also explain why I’ve felt so tired during my training runs – without proper energy, my body may well have started to break down muscle. After a week of taking the supplements recommended by Keith, and following a heavily revised diet, I’m slowly starting to feel a little stronger on my training runs. I hope it continues; I was starting to get quite nervous.

Next stop, Mont Blanc...

The tests also revealed an intolerance to Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola. I hope the allergy is to cola nuts as opposed to coca leaves. Chewing coca leaves can really help you to acclimatise to altitude and I’ve got through an awful lot on past trips to the Andes. In 2003, my then girlfriend kindly packed a huge supply of Bolivian coca leaves in my rucksack, so that she could make coca tea later in the trip. You can imagine my horror, when I unpacked my kit in Chile, only to realise that I had just inadvertently trafficked over a kilogram of unrefined cocaine across the border. Well, she enjoyed her tea, and that’s apparently all that counts.

More tales of unlikely derring-do next week, when I may or may not tell you about the bank job I unwittingly perpetrated in Greece in the early 1990s.

You can support TEAM Manchester’s charitable efforts by following the links at the bottom of this blog.

2010

Vancouver, 2 May 2010 3 hours 31 minutes (new PB)
Edinburgh, 23 May 2010 www.edinburgh-marathon.com
Lakeland 50, 24 - 25 July 2010 www.lakeland100.com
The Atlantic Coast, 1 - 3 October 2010 www.votwo.co.uk/votwo2007/events-and-adventure/race_view.php?i=117
Auckland, 31 October 2010 www.aucklandmarathon.co.nz

HALF MARATHONS

Liverpool, 28 March 2010 1 hour 33 mins 14 seconds (new PB)

SUPPORT TEAM MANCHESTER AT THE EDINBURGH MARATHON AND GREAT MANCHESTER RUN:

Lucy Dawson and Amanda Howlett - Christies - www.justgiving.com/AmandaandLucy

Lucy Dawson and Amanda Howlett - Macmillan - www.justgiving.com/AmandaandLucymacmillan

Jessica Lovell – NSPCC - http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JessicaLovell

Helen Thomasson – Christies - http://www.justgiving.com/Helen-Thomasson

Claire Smith – Christies - http://www.justgiving.com/Claireruns10k

Harriet Sutherland – The Prostate Cancer Charity - http://www.justgiving.com/Harriet-Sutherland0

Noel Bresland - Bliss - http://www.justgiving.com/Noel-Bresland-223-Marathon-Challenge

Join the Facebook Group "A Marathon Or Two"

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

In Through The Out Door

2010-05-26T20:01:00.011+01:00

My journey home from Athabasca turned into an epic. After Mel and Ron drove me to Edmonton, I flew to Vancouver, on to NYC, drove from NYC to Philadelphia to meet up with Mary and her running friends, Laurie and Theresa (see “Local Zero” http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/05/local-zero.html), drove back to NYC, and finally flew home to Manchester (taking a wide detour north over Greenland and north of Iceland to avoid the latest volcanic ash cloud).

Vancouver 2010, miles 25 - 26: "hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way..."

I had such a great time in Philadelphia. Mary had arranged for us to watch the Phillies’ baseball game against the Atlanta Braves. See the photo of me watching the game from behind a Philadelphia cheesesteak. I’m not sure the cheesesteak will form a major part of the nutritional and training plans that I’ve agreed to prepare for Mary, but it sure is tasty. Congestive heart disease never tasted so good. As well as talking running with the ladies, who are working towards their first half marathon, Mary and I took some time to see Philly’s sights. We even visited the Philadelphia Museum Of Art, made famous by the Rocky films, and recreated our very own training montage. You can view it in all of its high definition, technicolor glory at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUfWECjUNwg. It was all Mary’s idea. She made me do it.

The cheesesteak won by TKO in the 4th round

Sunday, 16 May saw this year’s Great Manchester Run (10km). The race was a great success and many regular blog viewers were running, hot on Haile Gebrselassie’s heels. Amy Worrall ran a fantastic PB – taking a minute per mile off her previous best. After fighting back from a series of injuries (see Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants: http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/11/standing-on-shoulders-of-giants.html), this is a fantastic result and Amy can be justly proud. My friend Claire, running on behalf of Christies, also ran a new PB. Admittedly, it was the first time she’s ever run that far, but as I mentioned in last week’s blog, a PB is a PB, whichever way you cut it. Now you’ve set a benchmark, Claire. It only gets harder from here.

Finishing straight in Vancouver

In July, I’ll be back in the Alps for some more high-altitude mountaineering with Martin and James (see High Fidelity: http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/07/high-fidelity.html and The Devil Wears Puma http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/07/devil-wears-puma.html). This weekend, Martin and James were both in Latvia for the Riga Marathon, where they posted fantastic times (3:29:32 and 3:04:57 respectively). If Riga is anything to go by, Martin and I may struggle to keep up with James in Switzerland. Sunday also saw TEAM Manchester travel north of the border for the Edinburgh Marathon. Despite the hot weather, there were some fantastic performances, not least from my training partner Jess who, despite only having run the London Marathon four weeks previously, turned in a great 3:36:58. Amanda also ran a new personal best of 3:52:56, over 6 minutes inside her time from New York in 2008. Lucy, Helen, Libby and Harriet were all running their first marathon and should be really pleased with their great performances. Lucy still maintains that she’ll never run another marathon, but there are distinct signs of a softening of her position. On Saturday night, she said that there was no chance whatsoever of her ever running 26.2 miles again, whereas by Sunday night, over drinks after the race, she said that she was only 99% certain. The same thing happened to me after London in 2004. After I crossed the line, I promised my sister that I wouldn’t ever be doing anything like that ever again. By the following afternoon, I was signing up for the New York Marathon later that year. Six years, and 1 hour 31 off my PB, later and I’m writing a marathon-running blog.

Finally....

My Sunday in Edinburgh was quite frustrating. I hadn’t been able to shake the cold which I’d picked up prior to the Vancouver Marathon and it had spread to a niggling cough. I was feeling a little better by Thursday and managed a short training run of four miles. I felt incredibly weak and my lungs felt tight. Things were no better when I ran two miles on Friday. I travelled to Edinburgh undecided as to whether or not to run, but I did want to give it a go if I could. I walked into the starting pen in hope rather than expectation and got underway. Sunday felt no better than Thursday and Friday. My heart rate was relatively high for the slow pace that I was able to maintain and I decided to pull up at nine miles. The route was passing the ultimate finish at the Musselburgh racecourse, and I retired to the bar to consider what was going wrong. I knew that trying to grind out the remaining 17 miles was only going to make matters worse, but it was a bitter pill to swallow. Still, I’m trying to take the positives from it: if I had to be ill for a race, at least it wasn’t one of the fivemarathons for Christies and Macmillan, or Vancouver, where so many members of my family were there to watch the race.

One for the family album: with my cousins Melanie and Neil

My first priority is to get back to full fitness as quickly as possible and get training for the challenges ahead in 2010, not least the Lakeland 50 on 24 July. I’ve already spoken to Laith about what adjustments are necessary to my current training programme. While I’m excited about the ultras coming up this year, I’m finding it hard to not think about a marathon in spring 2011, when I can put Edinburgh behind me and look to take another bite out of my PB. I always try to learn from my mistakes and I’m rarely short of material. As the Rocky IV soundtrack put it, I’m “burning with determination to even up the score”.

Mel and Ron run past our support team at 3 miles

While I was in Vancouver, I received an email from my friend Noel. You may recall that he’s running 223 marathons for Bliss, the charity which cares for premature and sick babies. Noel confirmed that he’ll also be running the Atlantic Coast at the start of October. It’ll be great to have Noel and Jess there (and at least I can run with Noel when Jess leaves us for dust!).

Post-race celebration in Vancouver

You can support TEAM Manchester’s charitable efforts by following the links at the bottom of this blog.

2010

Vancouver, 2 May 2010 3 hours 31 minutes (new PB)
Edinburgh, 23 May 2010 www.edinburgh-marathon.com
Lakeland 50, 24 - 25 July 2010 www.lakeland100.com
The Atlantic Coast, 1 - 3 October 2010 www.votwo.co.uk/votwo2007/events-and-adventure/race_view.php?i=117
Auckland, 31 October 2010 www.aucklandmarathon.co.nz

HALF MARATHONS

Liverpool, 28 March 2010 1 hour 33 mins 14 seconds (new PB)

SUPPORT TEAM MANCHESTER AT THE EDINBURGH MARATHON AND GREAT MANCHESTER RUN:

Lucy Dawson and Amanda Howlett - Christies - www.justgiving.com/AmandaandLucy
Lucy Dawson and Amanda Howlett - Macmillan - www.justgiving.com/AmandaandLucymacmillan
Jessica Lovell – NSPCC - http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JessicaLovell
Helen Thomasson – Christies - http://www.justgiving.com/Helen-Thomasson
Claire Smith – Christies - http://www.justgiving.com/Claireruns10k
Harriet Sutherland – The Prostate Cancer Charity - http://www.justgiving.com/Harriet-Sutherland0
Noel Bresland - Bliss - http://www.justgiving.com/Noel-Bresland-223-Marathon-Challenge
Join the Facebook Group "A Marathon Or Two"
View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

Strawberry Fields Forever

2010-05-08T06:25:00.015+01:00

Hello from Athabasca, Alberta!

Sunday’s Vancouver marathon and half marathon were great events. Despite the heavy rain and cold weather, Melanie and Ron turned in personal bests. Admittedly, it was their first half marathon, but a PB is a PB. In the build-up to the race, I’d said to Mel that I wasn’t choosy about the weather, as long as we didn’t have excessive heat or torrential rain. One out of two ain’t bad.

Spotting Randy in Stanley Park

Mel and Ron got underway in the half marathon at 7am, while I got started half an hour later. As it turned out, some marathoners, those who expected to take over 6 hours to complete the course, had started running at 6am. I didn’t know that, when I was still passing the morbidly obese, 2.5 hours into my own race. I couldn’t understand how I could have been running so hard, for so long, and yet still be behind the salad-dodging chapter of the distance running fraternity. Having considered that it was obviously time to hang up my trainers, it came as a great relief to see the starting timetable after the race.

Ron, capturing the moment on Sunday's half marathon

Sunday was the culmination of a great adventure which started in San Francisco last year. Nine months of intensive training for Mel and Ron and a lot of careful planning by Mel and her Dad, my Uncle Bob, to get over 20 members of my family together on race day, meant we had everything in place for what was an unbelievable occasion. As my race started later than theirs, I was able to walk over to the starting pen with Mel and Ron and enjoy the build-up with them. It was so great to have our family around us, to share the moment.

Making tracks in Stanley Park

My own final preparation for the race had been far from perfect. I picked up a cold in New York which I just couldn’t shift. By the day before the race it had really got a grip. Had it been the forthcoming marathon in Edinburgh (23 May 2010), I would almost certainly not have run. I had trained so hard throughout the freezing cold winter that I couldn’t bear to waste the race – to run when I wasn’t feeling fit and, at the same time, tire myself out for a proper attempt at a time in a future race. Having said that, I had been building towards Vancouver, and thinking about little else, for six whole months, ever since I crossed the finish line in New York City, drawing the fivemarathons to a close. Also, with my family in town for the race, I really wanted to run if I possibly could.

Mile 10 support team

I’m really grateful for all of my family’s efforts to ensure that I had every chance of running a good race. My Uncle Bob made sure that I had all of the right food in the week before the race and drove me around the course to acquaint myself in advance with the uphill sections where I was going to have to work, and the downhill sections where I would need to bank some time. He also arranged that I had family members every five miles on the route, not only to support me, but to hand me the drinks which were going to be essential for a good time. That meant that I could avoid the scrums at the water stops, and actually get some fluids on board. I find it almost impossible to drink properly from the cups handed out by the race organisers, while simultaneously trying to maintain 7 minute 45 second miles. Perhaps, like all men, it’s the multi-tasking element I find hard. Most days I struggle to walk while chewing gum.

Uncle Bob, Val, and Mel’s boys, Jonas and Zachary, met me at mile 5; my Mum, Dad, Auntie June (three quarters of my San Francisco and New York support team), Jacob and Noah were waiting for me at mile 10; and Caron and Randy were just past the halfway point in Stanley Park, still smiling through the pouring rain. On the Burrard Bridge, at 17 miles, my cousin Neil, a fellow endurance athlete (and regular Iron Man competitor) was waiting to run with me and keep me on pace for the last 9.2 miles of the race. My cousin Craig, Tracy and Meagan met us at miles 19 and 22, which was a great inspiration to keep me pressing. Given my cold, I was trying to take it easy in the first half of the race, and keep my heart rate below 152 beats per minute. Running with a bad cold is never a good idea and I was keen to avoid any undue strain on my heart. My legs also felt tired and a little weak from mile one. Normally, the first 15 miles of the race are free, while the latter 11.2 are where you really earn your money. On Sunday, I was having to scrap for every yard from the very start. In spite of all that, by the time I reached Neil, I realised that a new PB was possible, if I could just keep moving freely. Neil was such a fantastic help and pushed me to a 3 hours 31 finish, 12 minutes inside my previous best. Thanks Neil! Whenever I can return the favour for you, just let me know and I’ll be there.

Job done

As we reached the finishing straight, Mel was waiting for us, having finished her half marathon with Ron in a fantastic 2 hours 18 minutes. Getting to run in a new PB, with my cousins Neil and Mel either side of me, and with our family cheering us on was a priceless moment which I’ll never forget. My Mum and Auntie June were in tears. On Monday evening, we all got together for a celebratory meal, which was a great way to mark a fantastic family occasion. Caron is keen to run another half marathon (having run Vancouver and Kelowna before), and Mel and Ron intend to keep running, so I may be back to do it all again.

Left for dust: swallowing my running pride at LTIS

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to run with the Marathon Club at the Landing Trail Intermediate School in Athabasca. LTIS is the school attended by Mel and Ron’s sons, Noah and Jonas. At lunchtimes, the kids run 2 kilometres around the school grounds. Once they reach 42.2 kilometres, they’re awarded their marathon certificates. Noah and Jonas are already well on their way, with half marathons under their belts. I’m not ashamed to say that, for the first 400 metres, I wondered if I was going to be able to keep up! Fortunately, the boys settled down into a more sustainable pace, and we got our heads down for their next two kilometres. It was an absolute pleasure to run with the kids, and hopefully help to enthuse the distance runners of tomorrow. The next destination on my running world tour is Philadelphia, first thing tomorrow morning, where I’ll be meeting up with my friends Mary and Laurie, who are fresh from last Sunday’s Broad Street 10 Miler in Philly. I know Mary is looking to bag her first half marathon before the end of the year. Photos and a full race report to follow in a future blog!

Sam, Sebastian, Jamie and Jonas

As always, I’d like to offer my sincere thanks to my coach, Laith (http://www.theendurancecoach.com/) and my physio, Alan (http://www.harrisandross.co.uk/), without whom I couldn’t have even dreamed of taking another 12 minute bite out of my PB. Thanks chaps! Work starts Monday for a 3 hour 15 finish in spring 2011. Just a few minor races to keep me occupied between now and then.

SUPPORT TEAM MANCHESTER AT THE EDINBURGH MARATHON AND GREAT MANCHESTER RUN:

BMO Vancouver Marathon

2010-05-04T00:23:00.005+01:00

With Mel and Ron at the Vancouver Marathon Expo

I'm pleased to confirm that yesterday's BMO Vancouver Marathon went really well. Despite feeling quite unwell in the days before the race, I'd come too far to not run and I turned in a new PB of 3 hours 31 (12 minutes inside my previous best).

Race jerseys

It was a fantastic occasion and it felt so great to have so many of my family around me. Despite the cold and heavy rain, Melanie and Ron finished their first half marathon in a superb 2 hours 18 minutes. Full details to follow in this week's blog.

Canada's next top model

Roll on Edinburgh! No turning back now.

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Philadelphia Story

2010-04-28T16:30:00.008+01:00

You may remember that this time last year, my friend Mary, and her friend Laurie, were running the Broad Street 10 Miler in Philadelphia (see “Local Zero” http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/05/local-zero.html). I talked to Mary about joining them this year, if the dates fitted around Vancouver. Unfortunately, this year both races both fall on 2 May, which is a shame. The race itself is reputed to be the USA’s biggest 10 mile race – this year, entries had to be capped at 30,000! That’s pretty amazing, when you think that the London Marathon only gets around 35,000 finishers. While Laurie will be running this year, Mary has unfortunately sprained her ankle and has been unable to train. After doing all of my training for the Dublin Marathon in 2005 and being unable to race, I know how incredibly frustrating it feels. Especially when your friends are getting excited about the race.

Different day, same bull (see “The French Connection”
http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/11/french-connection.html)

Although I can’t make it for the race, I am stopping off in Philadelphia on my way home from Vancouver. I know Mary has got some great activities lined up, not least going to one of the Phillies’ home games. Avid baseball fans will know that the Phillies made it to the World Series with the New York Yankees last year. The series was decided while I was in New York for the marathon and the buzz about the games was incredible. Although the Phillies won their game on the day I arrived on Manhattan, they sadly lost the next, and the series, the day before I left to fly home. I’m sure my presence at the game on 7 May will prove talismanic and the Phillies will go one better this year. Ahem. As well as the Phillies’ game, I have suggested to Mary that I’d like to recreate the iconic training scene from “Rocky”, where the man himself (the Fighting Pride Of Philadelphia, no less) runs up the 72 steps to Philadelphia Museum of Art as the stirring culmination of the training montage. I’ll bet no tourists have ever done that before. Coming soon to an embarrassing Youtube clip near you.

As I mentioned at the end of the last blog, Jess had an amazing run in Sunday’s London Marathon. After completing the first half of the race in a blistering 1 hour 37 minutes, she went on to close out the race in just 3 hours 29 minutes. This performance put Jess in the top 500 female finishers – in one of the World Marathon Majors (www.worldmarathonmajors.com). This blog isn’t normally graced with outstanding athletic achievement, but rather heroic and no less shambolic tragi-comedy (often involving medical intervention and even the odd flock of sheep), so we really should relish this moment. Well done, Jess!

"We need to take the bull by the balls before somebody pulls the rug out from under our noses"
(see “Dunkin’ Donuts” - http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/08/dunkin-donuts.html)

I’m writing this at JFK Airport, awaiting my flight to Vancouver for the marathon. It has been raining so hard today in New York that flights are being delayed because of the amount of standing water on the runways. After last week’s volcanic ash, and today’s apparent floods, I’m fully expecting a plague of frogs for my return flight to NYC. In my day job, I once spent a series of teeth-grindingly boring meetings, discussing the nature of “acts of God” for the purposes of commercial agreements. After being prevailed upon to provide expert insight into the potentially detrimental effects of sonic booms, I announced that we were worrying about nothing, suggested that we each respectively get a life, and find something more pressing about which to concern ourselves. Little did I know, I was about to have a stark lesson in the truly bizarre nature of natural phenomena and their effect on the best laid marathon-running plans of mice and men. An Icelandic volcano stopping the production of our running tops, and grounding flights to north America? Who can honestly say they spotted that iceberg?

Check out TEAM Manchester’s marathon-running fundraising efforts, below. I’m particularly pleased, and proud, to plug Lucy and Amanda’s run at the Edinburgh Marathon, not least because Lucy maintains that I talked her into it (I could have sworn it was the other way around!), but also because they’re fundraising for fivemarathons’ supported charities, Christies and Macmillan. Claire and Helen are also supporting Christies, while Harriet is supporting The Prostate Cancer Charity. You can read about the inspiring stories behind each of their efforts at the websites below. I could fill an entire blog telling you about Noel’s 223 marathons for Bliss (watch this space!). Finally, if Jess’ outstanding performance in Sunday’s London Marathon inspired you to show your support for the NSPCC, visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JessicaLovell.

2010

Vancouver, 2 May 2010 www.bmovanmarathon.ca
Edinburgh, 23 May 2010 www.edinburgh-marathon.com
Lakeland 50, 24 - 25 July 2010 www.lakeland100.com
The Atlantic Coast, 1 - 3 October 2010 www.votwo.co.uk/votwo2007/events-and-adventure/race_view.php?i=117
Auckland, 31 October 2010 www.aucklandmarathon.co.nz

HALF MARATHONS

Liverpool, 28 March 2010 1 hour 33 mins 14 seconds (new PB)

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Above Us Only Sky

2010-04-25T13:21:00.007+01:00

Hello from Manhattan! The good news is, despite Iceland’s best efforts, my flight left on time and I arrived in NYC without incident. No wing-walking to chisel volcanic rock from the engines either. Final preparations for Vancouver are also going well: a few gentle runs in Central Park and arguably eating too much. The park is a great place to train – very green, pretty and full of other runners. I’ve also got fond memories of the NYC marathons and International Friendship Runs in 2004 and 2009. More mixed feelings about September 2006 in the park, but that’s another story for another day. Send a cheque to Christies for a minimum of £75 and I’ll tell you all about it. It’s a cracker too: alcohol poisoning, ghostly apparitions and even a horse. It’s got it all.

As I’m writing, Jess is well underway in the London Marathon. The text updates from the race organisers confirm that she went through the halfway point in just 1 hour 37 minutes, which is very quick. I’m now ticking down the minutes until the text arrives from the finish line. Jess told me that they’ve got really heavy rain, which is far from ideal, but at least they’ll avoid some of the heat-related problems from recent years. Only four weeks until we’re doing it all again in Edinburgh (I’m sure that will be a comforting thought for Jess when she finishes). Based on my experience of long queues during last year’s race in London, Jess has done well to get into her running so quickly. My starting pen was full of runners in fancy dress. Many had come as either giraffes or people who’d never run more than two miles before.

Strawberry Field, Woolton, Liverpool. Sunday, 11 April 2010

Two weeks ago, I did my final long run before Vancouver: 21 miles from my parents’ house in St Helens into Liverpool. In fact, it’s only 8 miles between the two, so I had plenty of miles within Liverpool to take in some of the sights. As a big Beatles fan, I stayed after the run to see some of the Beatles landmarks – Penny Lane, Eleanor Rigby’s grave at St Peter’s church and, across the road, the church hall where Lennon and McCartney first met in 1957. I also visited Strawberry Field and Mendips, the house on Menlove Avenue where John grew up. So, during my training runs on Manhattan, I’ve been sure to take in The Dakota, the building where Lennon lived from 1974, and where he was shot dead by a deranged fan in 1980. I was only 8 when Lennon died, but even I realised that something seismic had just happened. The Liverpool Echo was filled with tributes for weeks after his death. Across the road from The Dakota, in Central Park, lies Strawberry Fields, with its mosaic tribute to Lennon. Amongst the thousands of fans who visit Strawberry Fields every day, my running had, just for once, taken on a cultural dimension beyond pounding Merseyside’s unforgiving streets.

Strawberry Fields, Central Park West. Saturday, 24 April 2010

My onward flight to Vancouver leaves late on Monday night, which should give me plenty of time to get over jetlag, acclimatise and get my head ready for the race on Sunday, 2 May. With London a week before Vancouver, Jess will have an all-important extra week to recover before we race in Edinburgh. Just getting that excuse on the table nice and early...

Talk to you again from British Columbia.

PS Just heard from Jess: she finished her first marathon in 3 hours 29. Just fantastic!

2009

FIVEMARATHONS

Barcelona, 1 March 2009 3 hrs 57 mins (new PB)
London, 26 April 2009 4 hrs 01 mins
San Francisco, 26 July 2009 3 hrs 43 mins (new PB)
Berlin, 20 September 2009 3 hrs 46 mins
New York, 1 November 2009 3 hrs 53 mins

HALF MARATHONS

Coniston 14 (14 miles), 28 March 2009 1 hr 48
Humber Half Marathon, 15 June 2009 1 hr 40 (new PB)
Congleton Half Marathon, 11 October 2009 1 hr 33 mins 49 seconds (new PB)

2010

Vancouver, 2 May 2010 www.bmovanmarathon.ca
Edinburgh, 23 May 2010 www.edinburgh-marathon.com
Auckland, 31 October 2010 www.aucklandmarathon.co.nz

HALF MARATHONS

Liverpool, 28 March 2010 1 hour 33 mins 14 seconds (new PB)

SUPPORT TEAM MANCHESTER AT THE EDINBURGH MARATHON AND GREAT MANCHESTER RUN:

Jessica Lovell – NSPCC - http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JessicaLovell

Helen Thomasson – Christies - http://www.justgiving.com/Helen-Thomasson

Claire Smith – Christies - http://www.justgiving.com/Claireruns10k

Harriet Sutherland – The Prostate Cancer Charity - http://www.justgiving.com/Harriet-Sutherland0

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View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

Ashes To Ashes

2010-04-23T04:19:00.013+01:00

Welcome back to the fivemarathons blog! Just in time for the new season, with the Vancouver Marathon just over a week away and the Edinburgh Marathon hot on its heels, only three weeks afterwards.

So much has happened since my last blog but, right now, it’s hard to focus on anything but the volcanic cloud which our Icelandic cousins have kindly sent us. After donating Björk and the banking collapse (see “Keep On Keeping On”: http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/03/keep-on-keepin-on.html), you’d think they’d been more than generous enough. First of all they bankrupt their country, then they set it on fire. It’s starting to look suspiciously like an insurance job. This latest Icelandic gift has had a range of unexpected implications here at fivemarathons HQ. First of all, our friends at TheCycleJersey.com, who make fivemarathons’ race tops, are stuck in Spain, after European airspace was closed due to the volcanic ash currently resident in the upper atmosphere. This means that production has had to be halted on the tops for Vancouver (see the design, below). It’s a particularly large order, of over 20 tops, because so many of my family will be in Vancouver to either race or support us. As if that wasn’t enough, my chances of getting my flight to NYC on Friday are looking particularly slim. In the meantime, I’m marooned on a desolate rock in the north Atlantic and can only hope for some strong winds to blow the ash eastwards. Over France would be fine, but I’m not choosy.

Scottish Highlands: fruitlessly searching for volcanic clouds in the upper atmosphere

Regular blog viewers will remember that my cousin Melanie, and her husband Ron, have been dedicatedly preparing for the Vancouver half marathon on 2 May (see “The Manhattan Project” - http://fivemarathons.blogspot.com/2009/11/manhattan-project.html). In addition, my cousin Neil, himself an accomplished endurance athlete, will meet me at mile 18 of the marathon to help pace me and keep me going for the crucial last 8 miles. Race strategies stand or fall in the latter stages of the race, so it will be great to have his help and support. Running quickly for 18 miles is relatively easy, but having enough in the tank to remain in your rhythm right the way to the finish line is the real trick. Having so many family members in the crowd is also a big boost; not just for their support, but also because they can hand out water bottles, which means I can avoid the inevitable scrums at each of the water stations. Also, drinking from bottles is much more straightforward than trying to drink from the cups provided by the race organisers. Try drinking from a cup while seeking to maintain 7 minute 45 second miles – if you’re anything like me, most of the water will disappear down your front and / or up your nose. All highly hilarious until you’re on an iv drip like I was after the NYC marathon. Fortunately, my Uncle Bob is kindly organising my support team to be at the key points of the race, so I can take drinks when I need them.

Vancouver marathon race top

Mel and Ron’s training for the half marathon has been tremendous. From being a non-runner when she came to support me at the San Francisco Marathon in late July last year, to taking 12-mile long runs in her stride barely 8 months later, Mel’s progress has been just fantastic. Despite being over 5,000 away, Mel, Ron and I have managed to coordinate a solid training plan via the magic of Google Docs. I upload the training plan at this end, Mel posts her progress, comments and queries, which I then try to answer! I’m ever so proud of Mel and Ron’s hard work, not least because of the inclement northern Alberta winter through which they’ve trained – everything from minus 25 degrees Celsius to plus 15. It puts the harsh Shap winter into context. I don’t feel so bad about the three months of snow and ice through which I had to run (and the studs I had to wear on my trainers just to get some grip). I can’t wait to get the telephone call during the marathon to let me know how Mel and Ron have enjoyed the half marathon.

With Amanda at the Congleton Half Marathon, 11 October 2009

Without wishing to speak too soon, I've been pleased with how my own preparation for Vancouver has gone. The last six months have all been about speed training, to make fast cruising feel much easier. Early signs are good. Despite a very relaxed run in the Liverpool Half Marathon, I set a new PB and each of my long Sunday runs have gone smoothly. Having done all of my longer runs in the hills around Shap, I’m finding running on the flat to be comparatively comfortable. A last-minute discussion with Laith (www.theendurancecoach.com) earlier in the week to consider race strategy, some final physio with Alan at Harris and Ross (www.harrisandross.co.uk) and I’m almost ready. Just a few final training runs in New York and I should be ready to race. While I’m running in Central Park, my training partner Jess will be taking on the London Marathon. London will be Jess’ first marathon and everything is looking good for an impressive time. I wish her every success and trust that she’ll take miles 20 – 24 completely within her stride. Make friends with pain and you’ll never be alone!

Right, I’ll talk to you again from New York, assuming my flight ever leaves Manchester.

SUPPORT TEAM MANCHESTER AT THE EDINBURGH MARATHON AND GREAT MANCHESTER RUN:

Jessica Lovell – NSPCC - http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JessicaLovell

Helen Thomasson – Christies - http://www.justgiving.com/Helen-Thomasson

Claire Smith – Christies - http://www.justgiving.com/Claireruns10k

Harriet Sutherland – The Prostate Cancer Charity - http://www.justgiving.com/Harriet-Sutherland0

HALF MARATHONS

Liverpool, 28 March 2010 1 hour 33 mins 14 seconds (new PB)

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View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants

2009-11-23T00:16:00.009Z

After two years of preparation, 59 blogs, over 5,000 miles in training, 176 miles in races, 5 marathons, 3 half marathons, and one 10k, here it is, my final blog for fivemarathons. I’m glad to have made it in one piece. When you’re trying to stay healthy, and ready to race, for such a long period, you become paranoid about even the slightest sniffle. I heard about one chap who died following a single sneeze. On closer investigation, it turned out he was hiding in his neighbour’s bedroom wardrobe at the time.

Attention is already turning to next season and races for 2010. After New York, my friend Helen emailed me to explain that fivemarathons had inspired her to run her first marathon and she has signed up for Edinburgh on 23 May 2010. As I mentioned in a previous blog, TEAM fivemarathons’ Lucy will also run her first marathon in 2010 and this week, Lucy and Amanda signed up for Edinburgh. This is a great show of support from Amanda, who had sworn that she would never run another marathon. When they asked me to run with them, I soon realised that it was only three weeks after Vancouver. That may seem like awkward timing, but it actually works reasonably well – although I’ll inevitably have to be shuffling around at the back, it won’t interrupt my six months’ of preparation for Auckland on 31 October 2010. In any event, after all of the races that Lucy and Amanda have kindly run with me this year (Coniston 14, Great Manchester Run, Congleton Half Marathon), I’m really keen to return the favour. At our recent meal to celebrate the successful completion of the fivemarathons, Lucy chatted with Laith about possible marathons for 2010. I think Laith was absolutely right when he said that London and Edinburgh are the real contenders for UK marathons. All of the others are a little too small, especially if, as Lucy maintains, it will be the only marathon she ever runs. I’d be confident that, once she has the medal around her neck, she’ll be itching to race again. Anyway, you already know my feelings about the London Marathon (see Every Day Is A Winding Road, 2 May 2009), so Edinburgh could be the perfect choice.

Fresh from successfully taming the New York City Marathon, Amy is now looking for a new challenge and is strongly considering Edinburgh. She is now signed up with Laith (http://www.theendurancecoach.com/) and Alan (http://www.harrisandross.co.uk/) for 2010, so she couldn’t have a better support team. This week, at her first session with Alan, he diagnosed that she had run New York with a dislocated bone in her foot. Amy mentioned that she’d been in pain from 8 miles onwards, but it must have been absolute agony. What an amazing achievement to close out the race. As TEAM fivemarathons’ Martin explained during our high altitude mountaineering trip to the Swiss Alps (see High Fidelity, 6 July 2009 and The Devil Wears Puma, 12 July 2009), we achieve because we just don’t know when we’re beaten. To some extent, pain is an inevitable part of marathon running and dealing with it is something you can learn. As Haruki Murakami said, in his bestselling book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional”. Amy’s pain management in New York is nothing short of heroic. I wish her a successful, and pain free, season in 2010.

In this final blog, I want to say some important thank-yous and to explain a little about what the fivemarathons have meant to me. I can confirm that, with money still coming in, we’ve already raised over £12,000, which is amazing and is thanks to all of your generous support. This week, I met with Becky Bainton, Macmillan’s fundraising coordinator, who confirmed that £12,000 would pay for 48 families affected by cancer to have days out and short breaks together. Amongst the anguish of watching your loved one fighting cancer, you can imagine how much this time together must mean. Spending time with my Auntie Moll is what I have missed every day for the last 24 years and I couldn’t put a value on just one day with her now. That’s exactly what your donations have provided for each of those families and I can’t thank you enough.

My Auntie Moll, my brother Phil and my Gran Daisy, who died of cancer not long after this photo was taken

Since New York, and throughout the fivemarathons, I’ve been lucky to receive countless messages of support and congratulation. The truth is, I couldn’t have done it without the constant help and encouragement of my family and friends. In acknowledging his successes, Sir Isaac Newton once explained that “If I have seen a little further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants". To thank everyone who has made the fivemarathons possible would require several additional blogs, but I do want to take the opportunity here to give some heartfelt thanks to the giants upon whose shoulders the fivemarathons were built.

In no particular order, I’d like to thank Alan, my physio, without whom I wouldn’t have been able to run; my coach and great friend Laith, who took a 15.5 stone slowcoach, removed four stones off his waistline, 1 hour 9 minutes off his marathon PB and countless years off his life expectancy – 32 years on and still masterminding victories; my Mum and Dad, who bought my first running shoes and criss-crossed the globe to watch me race and show their love and support (check out the photo of my Mum and Dad in Brooklyn (The French Connection, 9 November 2009), it will tell you everything you need to know); Lucy and Amanda, who ran with me and whose unwavering commitment inspired me to keep going and encouraged others to show their support; Rob, who masterminded fivemarathons’ successful PR campaign and whose blog reminded us all why Christies’ and Macmillan’s work is so vital; Mel, who is the cousin I always wanted and whose support helped me to view the fivemarathons through fresh eyes; Martin who trained with me, even at high altitude, ran with me in Berlin and supported me throughout; my sister Jilly for her love and support; my Godsons Seb and Monty for flying to England to watch me race, even though Monty was only a month old; Jayne for reminding me what was important, when I was about to forget; Jon and Jon, who lit the fire, made soup and wheat-free bread after my long Sunday runs in freezing cold Shap; Claire, who got behind me from the first moment, when fivemarathons was no more than an idea on the back of a postcard, and spoke to me at every race (sometimes during the race) to show her support; my Auntie June for her kind encouragement and for travelling to San Francisco and New York to support me; my Auntie Joan for looking after me during the London Marathon and my Uncle Son for running with a 9 year old and encouraging him to succeed; and, most importantly, my beloved Auntie Moll, the Angel on my shoulder, for everything.

And that is what the fivemarathons have meant to me, an opportunity to honour my Auntie Moll and say a long overdue thank you, which I never had the opportunity to say. I love you with all of my heart.

With sincere thanks for all of your help, support, encouragement and boundless generosity,

Dunk

23 November 2009

2009

FIVEMARATHONS

Barcelona, 1 March 2009 3 hrs 57 mins (new PB)
London, 26 April 2009 4 hrs 01 mins
San Francisco, 26 July 2009 3 hrs 43 mins (new PB)
Berlin, 20 September 2009 3 hrs 46 mins
New York, 1 November 2009 3 hrs 53 mins

HALF MARATHONS

Coniston 14 (14 miles), 28 March 2009 1 hr 48
Humber Half Marathon, 15 June 2009 1 hr 40 (new PB)
Congleton Half Marathon, 11 October 2009 1 hr 33 (new PB)

2010

Vancouver, 2 May 2010 www.bmovanmarathon.ca
Edinburgh, 23 May 2010 www.edinburgh-marathon.com
Auckland, 31 October 2010 www.aucklandmarathon.co.nz

Christies is the charity which provides funds for, and supports, the work of the world renowned specialist cancer centre, The Christie, in Manchester (see www.christies.org). Macmillan provides practical, medical, financial and emotional support for people affected by cancer and campaigns for better cancer care (see www.macmillan.org.uk).

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonschristies

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonsmacmillan

Visit us at http://www.fivemarathons.com/

Join the fivemarathons Facebook Group

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

The Manhattan Project

2009-11-16T18:01:00.012Z

The penultimate blog comes from my cousin, Melanie, who kindly came to support me in San Francisco and New York. You may recall from Mel’s previous blog (Journey Of A Thousand Miles, Sunday 30 August 2009), that the San Francisco Marathon inspired her to get running. Next stop is the Vancouver marathon and half marathon on 2 May 2010.

Before I hand over to Mel, I’d like to apologise for the confusion created by the reviews at the end of last week’s blog (The French Connection, 9 November 2009). Many thanks for the deluge of supportive emails and phone calls from those of you who were outraged at the blog’s harsh treatment. I can confirm that the reviews were firmly tongue in cheek. On the one hand, I’m pleased that the blog has such an air of credibility. On the other, I’m disturbed at how plausible Lawyer’s Digest’s comments appeared. Tune in for the final fivemarathons blog next week, when I shall be discussing the benefit of carbing up from spaghetti trees (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_trees).

It’s hard to believe that a busy and exciting city like New York would embrace any one particular event, but you could certainly feel a buzz in the atmosphere surrounding the NYC Marathon. Arriving in New York several days before the event, I was met by numerous promotional sights: banners, bus advertisements, billboards and even a “ticker tape” display running along one of the buildings in Times Square. Dunk had told me that if I had thought the atmosphere around the marathon in San Francisco was great then New York would be “electric”. He was right.

Warming up for the International Friendship Run, 31 October 2009

Venturing out and about in New York prior to the marathon, we as Dunk’s support team (his parents, my Mum and me) had many enjoyable encounters and conversations with native New Yorkers and other visitors. Wearing our fivemarathons t-shirts was just the invitation for many people to enquire, “So, you’re here for the marathon?” Hearing the stories of other participants and friends and family gave the marathon a bit of a small town feel in the midst of the Big Apple. With 42,000 plus runners in and around Manhattan, you can imagine what fun it was to connect with others in this way.

In Central Park, at the finish of the International Friendship Run

As Dunk mentioned in the last blog, we had the pleasure of running in the International Friendship Run that took place the day before the marathon. I had told Dunk ahead of time that I was really looking forward to running with him sometime in Central Park, but I wasn’t expecting it to be in such an enjoyable and international event! It was the first time for me to feel a part of the special comradeship that exists between runners. It was a real thrill to run through the streets of Manhattan and over the marathon’s finish line in Central Park. Once the run was over Dunk gave me some helpful advice to answer those who asked what I was doing while in New York. He said, “Tell them you went to New York for the marathon and ran with your cousin.” Sounds good to me!

As you might expect, I was excited to see some of the sights of the city. Having traveled there a few times before, I had covered the typical tourist agenda: Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Harlem, Central Park, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ellis Island, etc. Since Dunk had also been in New York previously, I was hoping that he would like to share some of his favourite spots. Imagine my anticipation on the day before the race when he hailed a cab and instructed the driver to take us midtown by the New Yorker Hotel. I was eagerly anticipating some great sightseeing or shopping. Now imagine my reaction when the destination was the discount clothing chain, K-Mart, where we proceeded to hunt down some inexpensive clothing for him to discard just prior to the race. Add to that the joy of eating generic pasta (cafeteria style) at Sbarro’s the two nights before the race and you get the drift that this was a working holiday! Take it from me, your best bet is to hire Dunk as a mountain guide and someone else to tour you through New York! All joking aside, we did manage to squeeze in some decent fivemarathons team power shopping. Also, we were very pleased to be able to see the newly commissioned USS New York, containing a 7.5-metric ton bow stem fashioned from steel taken from the World Trade Centre site.

With Dunk at the marathon finish line in Central Park

Finally, Dunk has asked me to provide here a brief update on my running. As some of you may remember, I became inspired by the experience of the San Francisco Marathon to try running again. It has been a steady pleasure to run regularly with my husband through our small town. As we start to stretch out the distances, our frequent companions here are dogs and pick-up trucks while running down often dusty dirt roads. One fine morning recently through the fog we saw a buck (male deer) in the distance, standing in the centre of our path. He stared us down for some time and then moved off into the bush, only to return shortly thereafter to assert his territory. After much yelling and hollering on our part he finally ran off for good, much to our relief! Such are the joys of smalltown Alberta life! Presently, we are eagerly training for the Vancouver half marathon on 2 May 2010. We’re thrilled that Dunk will be joining us and other family members to run the marathon (http://www.bmovanmarathon.ca/).

Journey's end

I told Dunk that his fivemarathons was like a drop in a pond with ripples flowing outward. I am certainly one of those ripples who have been blessed by this venture of his. Thanks, Dunk, for the inspiration and joy you have brought to so many by undertaking this grand plan! You may never know the full extent of what you have accomplished and how many lives you have touched. God bless you!

FIVEMARATHONS

Barcelona, 1 March 2009 3 hrs 57 mins (new PB)
London, 26 April 2009 4 hrs 01 mins
San Francisco, 26 July 2009 3 hrs 43 mins (new PB)
Berlin, 20 September 2009 3 hrs 46 mins
New York, 1 November 2009 3 hrs 53 mins

HALF MARATHONS

Coniston 14 (14 miles), 28 March 2009 1 hr 48
Humber Half Marathon, 15 June 2009 1 hr 40 (new PB)
Congleton Half Marathon, 11 October 2009 1 hr 33 (new PB)

Christies is the charity which provides funds for, and supports, the work of the world renowned specialist cancer centre, The Christie, in Manchester (see www.christies.org). Macmillan provides practical, medical, financial and emotional support for people affected by cancer and campaigns for better cancer care (see www.macmillan.org.uk).

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonschristies

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonsmacmillan

Visit us at http://www.fivemarathons.com/

Join the fivemarathons Facebook Group

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

The French Connection

2009-11-09T12:44:00.016Z

The day before the New York marathon, Mel and I ran the International Friendship Run from the United Nations Building to Central Park. This great event is organised for the international runners and it was very well supported. Most of the entrants were from Europe and South America. There was a particularly large contingent of Argentinians. I assume that they were in NYC for the marathon the next day. Either that, or the islands in the Central Park lake had better watch out. The route travels through midtown Manhattan to the finishing straight of the marathon. It was great to run with Mel – she’d mentioned in her blog (Journey Of A Thousand Miles, 30 August 2009) that she was looking forward to a training run in Central Park and this was a great way to do it.

Amongst the British runners at the International Friendship Run, Adam Hertz, a Pannone client, spotted the firm’s logos on my top.

My race day in New York started at 4.30am in Manhattan. Fortunately, US daylight saving meant that the clocks went back an hour overnight, so the early start was marginally less ridiculous than it might have been. The race organisers have to bus the 42,000 runners over the Verrazano Narrows to Staten Island for the start of the race. Such a massive logistical operation takes a lot of time and my bus dropped me off at the race start at 7am, a full three hours before the starting pistol was due to fire. Even with all of this time to spare, when it was finally time to get into the starting pens, there were too many runners to form an orderly queue. I, and several thousand others, ended up having to climb over a ten foot fence to even get to my starting position.

The importance of your support team: picking up water in Brooklyn

The race itself went well although, as in Berlin, my stomach had again reacted badly to my carbing up before the race. That left me dehydrated for the race, so I knew I’d have to back off the pace a little. To make matters worse, the water stations were handing out cups instead of bottles. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s virtually impossible to drink from a cup while running without getting most of it down your top or up your nose. By the time I reached the final mile, I was absolutely done and I just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other until I crossed the line. I walked over to the medical tent and they put me on a drip to ensure that I rehydrated as quickly as possible. Not the fairytale finish to the fivemarathons that I’d had in mind, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Even with an iv drip in my arm, and a concerned Mum on my mobile, finishing the last marathon felt absolutely fantastic.

Getting the carbs you need in NYC is harder than you might think. In my hotel for the New York Marathon in 2004, the 24 hour room service apparently referred to the length of time it took for your pasta to arrive. Even at home, preparing the right food for my marathons in 2004 was tricky at best. My then girlfriend used to tell friends that there’s only one thing worse than a boyfriend who can cook and won’t, and that’s a boyfriend who can’t cook but does. When I delicately suggested that she might like to help, she explained that going from room to room, removing the batteries from the smoke alarms, was more than contribution enough.

With Mel after the United Nations' International Friendship Run

The morning after the marathon, I really fancied a visit to a diner for a traditional American breakfast to catch up on some of the things I’ve been denying myself for the last two years. Blueberry pancakes, waffles and French toast for a start. I’ve always found the idea of French toast particularly ironic. The principal difference between the French and toast is that you can make soldiers out of toast. I should perhaps be a shade more careful with my French-baiting. At the New York Marathon, there was a large French contingent, some of whom came to talk to me about the fivemarathons and pose for some photos (see below). Normally, when anybody has asked about the marathons, I’ve suggested that they might like to look at the blog. Curiously, I didn’t do that this time – given the comments about the French flag which were disgracing the blog at the time (“I Love Paris”, 25 October 2009), I thought better of it.

"Don't mention the blog..."

Entente cordiale

Yesterday, I signed up for the Vancouver Marathon on 2 May 2010 (http://www.bmovanmarathon.ca/). Having a race to look forward to, and train towards, will keep me training through the winter. Without a goal in sight, it’s hard to stay motivated to run through the inevitable cold and the inclement weather. Now that I’ve completed the fivemarathons, I’m keen to stay in my training groove. I get particularly stir crazy in the week after a marathon. After two weeks tapering down before the race, and a week of rest afterwards, I feel like I haven’t had a proper run in ages (with the exception of a notable 26.2 miles in New York last Sunday). I'm really looking forward to being able to train properly and effectively without having another race looming in 6 weeks' time. When I started out, my principal objective was to survive all five races and get to the finish line in New York. By the time I got to San Francisco, I was starting to believe that, not only could I cling on for 26.2 miles, I might actually be able to improve and turn in some respectable times. On the one hand, it has been a frustration that the timetable of races hasn't allowed me to train to improve, only train to maintain. On the other hand, I'm so pleased that I was able to even contemplate improving and unlocking better performances. Now, I'm looking forward to being able to focus in on just one race and putting everything into achieving a good performance on the day.

"Like a red rag to a bull in a china shop" (see "Dunkin' Donuts", 12 August 2009)

I’m really looking forward to Vancouver. While I’m running the marathon, Mel and her husband Ron will be running their first half marathon. They’ll also be joined by our cousin, Caron, and her daughter Amanda. It will also be a great opportunity to spend time with my family in British Columbia, not least my Auntie June, who kindly supported me in San Francisco and New York. It was great to have Auntie June, Mel and my Mum and Dad to celebrate with me in New York. My Mum and Dad have travelled to all of the fivemarathons and it has been an amazing journey.

As I mentioned in last week’s blog, fivemarathons supporters Kathryn and Rick Price ran the Dublin Marathon on 26 October 2009 in a fantastic 5 hours 51 minutes (see below). You can read all about it at www.justgiving.com/kathrynprice3.

Kathryn and Rick Price after the Dublin Marathon 2009

Now that the last of the fivemarathons is successfully in the bag, I thought I’d share with you some of the favourable reviews which the blog has received over the last year:

“Vaughan has got nothing to say and he’s saying it far too often” – Westmorland Advertiser

“There’s nothing wrong with Vaughan’s autobiographical blog, except perhaps his poor choice of subject” – Shap Investigator

“Vaughan is the kind of lawyer you hope the other fellow has” – Lawyer's Digest

“Life is difficult enough without this blog” – Lancaster Star

“My colleagues thought that the blog was awful but I can’t say that I liked it that much” – Cumberland Gazette and Argus

FIVEMARATHONS

Barcelona, 1 March 2009 3 hrs 57 mins (new PB)
London, 26 April 2009 4 hrs 01 mins
San Francisco, 26 July 2009 3 hrs 43 mins (new PB)
Berlin, 20 September 2009 3 hrs 46 mins
New York, 1 November 2009 3 hrs 53 mins

HALF MARATHONS

Coniston 14 (14 miles), 28 March 2009 1 hr 48
Humber Half Marathon, 15 June 2009 1 hr 40 (new PB)
Congleton Half Marathon, 11 October 2009 1 hr 33 (new PB)

Christies is the charity which provides funds for, and supports, the work of the world renowned specialist cancer centre, The Christie, in Manchester (see http://www.christies.org/). Macmillan provides practical, medical, financial and emotional support for people affected by cancer and campaigns for better cancer care (see http://www.macmillan.org.uk/).

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonschristies

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonsmacmillan

Visit us at http://www.fivemarathons.com/

Join the fivemarathons Facebook Group

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/show/

Pommy Granite

2009-11-04T21:33:00.005Z

I’m relieved to tell you that the New York Marathon went really well. Despite a recurrence of my stomach problems from Berlin, I crossed the line in 3 hours 53 minutes, which ensured that I achieved my ambition of running all five marathons in under 20 hours (19 hours, 22 minutes, 18 seconds). I’m absolutely over the moon!

With Mel and the Macmillan support team before the United Nations'
International Friendship Run, 31 October 2009

Many congratulations to fellow Brits Amy Bell and Rick and Kathryn Price. Amy ran New York, her first marathon, in a fantastic 6 hours 29 minutes. What an amazing effort! Roll on the Rome Marathon 2010, when Amy will hit the streets again. Congratulations also to fivemarathons supporters Rick and Kathryn, who completed the Dublin Marathon on 26 October 2009 in a great 5 hours 51 minutes. Rick has fought back from injury and should feel justly proud with that result. Full details to follow in this week’s blog.

With my Mum and Dad at the finish line in Manhattan. 8 months, 5 marathons,
19 hours 22 minutes 18 seconds, 1 promise delivered

FIVEMARATHONS

Barcelona, 1 March 2009 3 hrs 57 mins (new PB)
London, 26 April 2009 4 hrs 01 mins
San Francisco, 26 July 2009 3 hrs 43 mins (new PB)
Berlin, 20 September 2009 3 hrs 46 mins
New York, 1 November 2009 3 hrs 53 mins

HALF MARATHONS

Coniston 14 (14 miles), 28 March 2009 1 hr 48
Humber Half Marathon, 15 June 2009 1 hr 40 (new PB)
Congleton Half Marathon, 11 October 2009 1 hr 33 (new PB)

This week’s training schedule:

Monday, 26 October 2009 2.5 miles easy
Tuesday, 27 October 2009 6 miles easy
Wednesday, 28 October 2009 2 miles easy
Thursday, 29 October 2009 Rest
Friday, 30 October 2009 Fly to New York
Saturday, 31 October 2009 United Nations’ International Friendship Run (2.5 miles)
Sunday, 1 November 2009 New York City Marathon

Christies is the charity which provides funds for, and supports, the work of the world renowned specialist cancer centre, The Christie, in Manchester (see www.christies.org). Macmillan provides practical, medical, financial and emotional support for people affected by cancer and campaigns for better cancer care (see www.macmillan.org.uk).

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonschristies

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonsmacmillan

Visit us at http://www.fivemarathons.com/

Join the fivemarathons Facebook Group

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/show/

I Love Paris

2009-10-25T23:39:00.007Z

I was in London on Wednesday for work. London is a bit like a zoo – it’s fun to go and point at the animals but I wouldn’t want to live there. While I was there, I bumped into my good friend, Claire. We trained at the same law firm in East Anglia, where Claire is now a partner. Towards the end of my time with the firm, I was training for the 2004 London Marathon. Claire had been an accomplished junior runner and had plenty of sound advice, which was invaluable for a complete novice like me. Claire has forgotten more about distance running than I ever knew and, I think it’s fair to say, she hasn’t forgotten much. Later in 2004, I raced against Paula Radcliffe in the New York Marathon. While Paula was winning, I was sauntering around the five boroughs in a leisurely 4 hours 52 minutes. During her school days, Claire too had raced against Paula, the principal difference being that Claire had a realistic chance of winning. I’ll be keeping Claire’s advice at the forefront of my mind when I renew my own rivalry with Paula on 1 November in NYC. Admittedly, she’s the bookies’ favourite, but I don’t shy from a challenge.

No idea who the German chap on the left is. At least it's only photographs they're invading these days*

As well as articles for running247.com and absoluterunning.com, this week I’ve been preparing an update for Macmillan’s newsletter. Macmillan’s travelling support was fantastic in Berlin and I’m looking forward to seeing them again in New York. Macmillan’s Marie Turnbull has provided great support for fivemarathons, not least sending over some fantastic Macmillan coffee mugs with “We Dunk” emblazoned on the side.

My physio Alan (www.harrisandross.co.uk) has been busy working on my left illiotibial band. I had felt just a small pain in my left knee and Alan quickly traced it to my IT band. As well as curing the piriformis and plantar fascia issues which I took to my first sessions with Alan, he has been invaluable in finding, and resolving, issues before they’ve had a chance to get started. Alan’s now off on holiday, so Tuesday was our last session of the fivemarathons campaign - Alan’s colleague Ali will get me ready to race next week. It’s absolutely the case that I couldn’t have got this far without Alan. Not only is he a first class physio, he’s a great bloke. Being able to share a laugh certainly helps take your mind off the pain of Alan’s elbows working their magic.

I'm still investigating possible races for next year. The Jurassic Coast is already booked in for the end of March, and the Vancouver Marathon for 2nd May. I’m also looking for a marathon which will give me every opportunity of running a new PB. Something with a flattish course, and not too many entrants - I don't want to waste time and energy jostling with other runners for the first six miles. Like San Francisco and Congleton, I want to be straight down to business. If I'm being particularly picky, I also want a race where the water stations hand out bottles and not cups. Choking yourself trying to get down half a cup of water, most of which is going down your front, is nobody's idea of fun. Having said that, a smaller race, with fewer runners, is unlikely to have a deal with a mineral water company to provide the tens of thousands of bottles which are required.

Laith and I sat down this week to discuss possible marathons. I had thought of signing up for a race in February, but as Laith rightly pointed out, it’s probably not enough time to fully recover from the fivemarathons and then prepare properly for a really quick run. It’s therefore looking like October / November 2010, with the plan being to get the Jurassic Coast and Vancouver successfully out of the way, then devote six months to mounting a proper challenge at a fast race. The Auckland Marathon (www.aucklandmarathon.co.nz) could be just the ticket. Since inviting me to consider Auckland last week, my friend Rachel is getting married! Many, many congratulations – I’d never have believed it when we met 18 years ago!

"Christiana, will you marry me?". Curiously, the German camera

crew didn't feature Christiana's 9 foot banner with "Nein" on it.

Unter den Linden, 20 September 2009

Also under consideration for 2010 or 2011 is the Paris Marathon. I’m not sure that my Union Jack waving antics in the final straight would go down all that well with the French. Perhaps I’ll invest in a French flag instead. I understand it’s a white cross on a white background. Hopefully that won’t prompt the same outrage as my comments about Hull. While I’m unnecessarily upsetting people, I’ll answer an email I received this week asking what I’m looking forward to most of all when the fivemarathons are complete, this time next week. First priority will be a huge steak. I haven’t clawed my way to the top of the food chain just to eat vegetables. I’ve made a few jokes about vegetarianism in previous blogs, which fellow omnivores have pointed out could be construed as offensive. Fortunately, most of the vegetarians haven’t had the strength to protest.

*Calm down, Madam, it's a joke

FIVEMARATHONS

Barcelona, 1 March 2009 3 hrs 57 mins (new PB)

London, 26 April 2009 4 hrs 01 mins

San Francisco, 26 July 2009 3 hrs 43 mins (new PB)

Berlin, 20 September 2009 3 hrs 46 mins

New York, 1 November 2009

HALF MARATHONS

Coniston 14 (14 miles), 28 March 2009 1 hr 48

Humber Half Marathon, 15 June 2009 1 hr 40 (new PB)

Congleton Half Marathon, 11 October 2009 1 hr 33 (new PB)

This week’s training schedule:

Monday, 19 October 2009 2.5 miles easy

Tuesday, 20 October 2009 6 miles steady

Wednesday, 21 October 2009 London

Thursday, 22 October 2009 4 miles easy

Friday, 23 October 2009 Rest

Saturday, 24 October 2009 3 miles easy

Sunday, 25 October 2009 4 miles steady

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonschristies

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonsmacmillan

Visit us at http://www.fivemarathons.com/

Join the fivemarathons Facebook Group

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

Value Added Travel VAT Solutions

2009-10-25T12:32:00.002Z

I'm delighted to announce that the VAT consultants, Value Added Travel VAT Solutions (www.vat2solutions.com), will be fivemarathons' Gold Sponsor for the New York Marathon. Even as we speak, their logos are being applied to my running top for New York. Many thanks to Jilly McCullagh for her help in arranging Value Added Travel VAT Solutions' sponsorship. The money which they have kindly donated will help Christies and Macmillan in their invaluable work.

FIVEMARATHONS

Barcelona, 1 March 2009 3 hrs 57 mins (new PB)

London, 26 April 2009 4 hrs 01 mins

San Francisco, 26 July 2009 3 hrs 43 mins (new PB)

Berlin, 20 September 2009 3 hrs 46 mins

New York, 1 November 2009

HALF MARATHONS

Coniston 14 (14 miles), 28 March 2009 1 hr 48

Humber Half Marathon, 15 June 2009 1 hr 40 (new PB)

Congleton Half Marathon, 11 October 2009 1 hr 33 (new PB)

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonschristies

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonsmacmillan

Visit us at http://www.fivemarathons.com/

Join the fivemarathons Facebook Group

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

A Boy From Nowhere

2009-10-19T23:45:00.009+01:00

It has been another fantastic week at fivemarathons HQ. Personal bests, 2010 marathons and drinks with the world’s greatest living Welshman. Having said that, I seem to have spent longer behind my laptop than I have on the road. As well as writing this week’s blog, I’ve been asked to prepare articles about fivemarathons for both absoluterunning.com and running247.com, the forthcoming online running magazine from the team that brought you tri247.com. Despite the diversions, training continues to progress well and I’ve no shortage of motivation after the Congleton half marathon last weekend.

Under the Brandenburg Gate

In the run up to New York, my emphasis will now shift to tapering down my training, getting plenty of rest, avoiding injury and, next week at least, carbing up. In any event, with less than two weeks to go until the big day, there’s not enough time to improve from a physiological perspective. Laith and I have however discussed neurological improvements which will benefit me in the race. For example, speed training helps to bring physiological improvements – being able to run more quickly and comfortably – but there isn’t enough time to see the benefit before race day. On the other hand, the return on neurological training is much quicker. Have you ever tried to play a video game and found it virtually impossible to coordinate the controls? Curiously, after just two hours, you’re finding it much easier. This is because, even in that short time, your body has developed the neurological programming necessary to successfully operate the controls. We can therefore look at the neurological programming element of my training and still expect to see a positive improvement before the race. I’ll work on running smoothly and maintaining a fluid running style. This is a matter of neurological, as opposed to physiological, programming. I’ll run acceleration strides, where I accelerate smoothly from zero to almost flat out in fifty metres. When accelerating, I work on keeping a distance runner’s style, and not slipping into a sprinter’s form. Watch some of the great middle distance runners, like Seb Coe, on Youtube and you’ll see what I mean. His action is very fluid and smooth, but his pace is blistering, all of which is down to neurological programming. We spend a lot of time considering this aspect of my running. After all, it’s the smooth running style which makes it possible to maintain a quick pace for long periods with minimal effort. If you’re having to force yourself along, you won’t be able to sustain it over 26.2 miles. Or, as Laith explained it to me: it doesn’t matter how powerful your engine is, if you’ve got egg-shaped wheels, it’s going to take an almighty effort to move quickly.

About to cross the finish line

Yesterday, I had my last long training run of the entire fivemarathons campaign. I’m missing it already and even thinking about races for next year. There’s been no shortage of tempting offers. I already mentioned the Vancouver Marathon on 2 May 2010 (www.bmovanmarathon.ca). Having run over 45 miles a week, every week, for the last two years, I’ve clocked over 4,600 miles, which is more than the distance from here to the start of the race in Vancouver. That’s got a disturbing ring of Forrest Gump about it. My university friend, Rachel, has also invited me to the Auckland Marathon in October / November 2010 (www.aucklandmarathon.co.nz), which sounds great. I considered Auckland for the fivemarathons, to give it a truly global feel. As it turned out, Auckland is on 1 November this year, the same date as New York, so I had to pass. 2010 is looking much better, though. Jessica has also lined me up for the Jurassic Coast in March, which is a scary looking race on the south coast of England. Between now and then, I’m looking for a fast course European marathon in January or February. A great opportunity to unlock some of the times which Laith and I are confident I can deliver.

Next stop, New York

Now, back to the world’s greatest living Welshman. On Thursday, I was enjoying a drink with a friend in the bar of The Lowry Hotel in Manchester, when who should literally bump into me but the man, the legend, Sir Tom Jones. A conversation about matters Welsh ensued and Sir Tom kindly signed the back of my running top above the Welsh flag. What better tribute to my Welsh grandparents than the great man’s endorsement? While it all may seem a little unbelievable, even to me, I’m assured it’s not unusual.

FIVEMARATHONS

Barcelona, 1 March 2009 3 hrs 57 mins (new PB)

London, 26 April 2009 4 hrs 01 mins

San Francisco, 26 July 2009 3 hrs 43 mins (new PB)

Berlin, 20 September 2009 3 hrs 46 mins

New York, 1 November 2009

HALF MARATHONS

Coniston 14 (14 miles), 28 March 2009 1 hr 48

Humber Half Marathon, 15 June 2009 1 hr 40 (new PB)

Congleton Half Marathon, 11 October 2009 1 hr 33 (new PB)

This week’s training schedule:

Monday, 12 October 2009 2.5 miles recovery run
Tuesday, 13 October 2009 6 miles brisk
Wednesday, 14 October 2009 4 miles easy easy
Thursday, 15 October 2009 8.5 miles steady
Friday, 16 October 2009 Rest
Saturday, 17 October 2009 5.5 miles steady
Sunday, 18 October 2009 12 miles marathon pace

Christies is the charity which provides funds for, and supports, the work of the world renowned specialist cancer centre, The Christie, in Manchester (see www.christies.org). Macmillan provides practical, medical, financial and emotional support for people affected by cancer and campaigns for better cancer care (see www.macmillan.org.uk).

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonschristies

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonsmacmillan

Visit us at http://www.fivemarathons.com/

Join the fivemarathons Facebook Group

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

The Long And Winding Road

2009-10-12T17:17:00.010+01:00

Sunday was a big race day for TEAM fivemarathons. While Lucy was in Peterborough running the Great Eastern Run half marathon, Amanda and I were in Congleton taming The Sting In The Tail race, over the same distance. Martin is currently on holiday in the USA, so he was excused racing duty on this occasion.

Lucy put down a fantastic new personal best, crossing the line in 2 hours 10 minutes. As I mentioned in my previous blog (Don’t Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow), 10 October 2009), all the signs were that Lucy was on for a great race and she more than delivered. Lucy ran with her friend Kylie from Stamford Striders running club. In her first half marathon, Kylie ran a blistering 1 hour 48 minutes, which is fantastic. Flushed with their success in Peterborough, Lucy and Kylie are now looking for a full marathon in April 2010. Paris might fit the bill (www.parismarathon.com/marathon/2009/us/index.html), Barcelona in March could be even better (http://www.barcelonamarato.es/).

Lucy with Kylie (left) and Bryony (right) after their success in Peterborough

Amanda was tremendously brave to run in Congleton, given the knee injury she was carrying. After the race, the pain was causing Amanda to limp, which demonstrated how hard she’d worked to post 1 hour 51 minutes. On a more light-hearted level, Amanda’s knee injury was strangely ironic: you may remember that last weekend, Amanda’s husband Mike returned home with a knee injury and a pronounced limp from our whitewater canoeing expedition to the Scottish Highlands. Two weekends with me, two Howletts unable to walk. I may not be getting another invitation to dinner with Amanda and Mike for the forseeable future.

With Mike, before he was walking with a limp

Going into Sunday’s race, my personal best for the half marathon was 1 hour 40 minutes and 6 seconds. As I mentioned in a previous blog (Ich bin ein Berliner, 8 August 2009), I’d registered for Congleton with the hope of getting inside 1:40 before the end of the fivemarathons. Given the pain in my bruised ribs, my hopes for a quick time were not high. However, I prepared a 1:40 pace wristband, which sets out the timings you’ll need to hit for each of the 13 miles (get one at http://www.marathonguide.com), and went to Congleton with a straightforward plan: run inside 1:40 pace and back off if my ribs became too painful. The race was very well organised and I got a quick getaway. This meant that I could get straight into my running and a comfortable sub-7 minute mile pace. I was a little nervous that this was too quick, but my heart rate was low, my ribs weren’t too bad, and it felt like an easy cruise. I planned to re-evaluate at 4 miles, but keep at it as long as it felt smooth. If I felt that I was chasing the race, or struggling to maintain the pace, I’d slacken off. As the miles went by, I began to entertain the idea that today might be my day.

With Amanda at Congleton Half Marathon, before she was walking with a limp

The course was reasonably hilly, with the big climbs at 10 miles and 12 miles (hence the race’s name, The Sting In The Tail). On the uphill sections, I made a conscious decision to get stuck in, and get them over without losing too much time. It’s a tactic that I’ve picked up from Martin during our training runs in Coniston and Shap. On the downhill sections, rather than try to brake (and potentially tire my legs out), I just tried to relax and let the gradient take me. Given the work I was putting in on the uphill sections, it seemed silly not to benefit from the gravity-assisted boost offered by the downhill. I continued to run smoothly and well inside the 7 minute 38 second miles which is 1 hour 40 pace. While I hoped my speed wouldn’t tail off, I at least felt that I was building a buffer which would allow me to slacken off towards the end if I needed to. Fortunately, I was able to keep it going and crossed the line in just over 1 hour 33, a full 7 minutes inside my PB. To put it into some perspective, that’s a mile quicker than my previous PB, which would have still been at 12.1 miles when I arrived at the finish yesterday.

With Amanda and Nick after The Sting In The Tail

I crossed the line with a mixture of relief and elation. I had expected things to be tailing off by this stage of the fivemarathons, especially only 3 weeks after Berlin, so I’m really pleased to be turning in a significant improvement to my PB and, more importantly, seeing the flow of donations to fivemarathons increase.

Before Sunday’s race, Laith and I had already discussed my training plan for marathons in 2010. In outline, we’ll focus on speed work: training to get as quick as possible over 5km and 10km then, 18 weeks before the marathon, work to maintain that pace over the full marathon distance. It’s simple really, if you imagine that you have four effort bands, 1 being easy cruising, through to 4, which is running flat out, giving it everything you’ve got. By increasing the speed of band 4, you automatically increase the speeds you can achieve in bands 1 to 3. It’s all about being able to cruise as quickly as possible, within effort bands 1 – 2. Our aim for 2010 is to get below 3 hours 30 minutes and the result in Congleton hopefully shows that we’re on our way. Your half marathon time should inform your time for the full marathon: as a rule of thumb, you double your half marathon time and add ten minutes. That would give me a marathon time of 3 hours 16 minutes. No pressure there, then.

Many thanks to Laith for his brilliant coaching and insightful guidance. Without his help, I’d still be fighting giraffes at the back of the race.

HALF MARATHONS
Coniston 14 (14 miles), 28 March 2009 1 hr 48
Humber Half Marathon, 15 June 2009 1 hr 40 (new PB)
Congleton Half Marathon, 11 October 2009 1 hr 33 (new PB)

This week’s training schedule:

Monday, 5 October 2009 10 miles steady
Tuesday, 6 October 2009 6 miles easy
Wednesday, 7 October 2009 6 miles brisk
Thursday, 8 October 2009 2 miles easy
Friday, 9 October 2009 Rest
Saturday, 10 October 2009 2.5 miles easy
Sunday, 11 October 2009 Congleton Half Marathon

Christies is the charity which provides funds for, and supports, the work of the world renowned specialist cancer centre, The Christie, in Manchester (see http://www.christies.org/). Macmillan provides practical, medical, financial and emotional support for people affected by cancer and campaigns for better cancer care (see http://www.macmillan.org.uk/).

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonschristies

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonsmacmillan

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Join the fivemarathons Facebook Group

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Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)

2009-10-10T16:05:00.006+01:00

Registration for the Berlin Marathon took place at the former Berlin Tempelhof airport, scene of the 1948 - 1949 airlift. Despite the German reputation for ruthless efficiency, registration and the marathon itself was anything but. After three hours of queuing, we went for lunch and polished off an impressive mound of pasta to carb up for the race. Another diner spotted my Mum's fivemarathons tour t-shirt and asked if he could take a photo. He explained that he was running the marathon in the morning and had the utmost respect for my Mum's achievement in taking on five international marathons in 2009. He even went as far as to describe my Mum as "some kind of Iron Lady". A shame that Mum had to puncture his balloon. He had precisely no interest in Martin and me running the marathon! Had Martin, Mandy and I not been there, I wonder if my Mum might have been tempted to dine out on her achievements. Regaling him with graphic tales of gritting her teeth at mile 19 in London, clinging on for a PB in San Francisco, and shamelessly playing to the crowd in Barcelona? Don't worry Mum, you're a hero to me, marathons or not.

Into the final straight in Berlin

It was great to spend time with my folks, Martin and Mandy in Berlin. Mandy had also come to see me race in London and it was great to have her support, especially out on the marathon route, which my stomach was making very hard work.

Martin celebrating a fine run in Berlin

At the moment, my body is feeling very sorry for itself. Last weekend, I was in the Scottish Highlands, whitewater canoeing with Mike Howlett. Despite putting up a brave fight, I think it's fair to say that the river came out on top. More precisely, we got our posteriors well and truly kicked. Having been thrown out of the canoe on several occasions, we proceeded to fight a losing battle with various rocks. I bruised my ribs, while Mike’s knee is currently carrying off a passable impression of a football. For most of the week, I have been holding my side, looking like I’m playing a set of imaginary bagpipes. It hurts most when I laugh. Fortunately, I’ve spent the week in work, so my ribs have had a well earned rest. I ran 10 miles with Jessica on Monday, which went fine. Maintaining sub-8 minute miles was easy enough, but it’s uncomfortable when I breathe deeply. My friend Dan kindly cheered me up with tales of a similar injury he had a few years ago, which had led directly to a bad dose of pleurisy. Hardly ideal preparation for tomorrow’s Congleton Half Marathon with TEAM fivemarathons’ Amanda. I was hoping to get inside 1 hour 40 minutes, but I’ll now settle for a more comfortable training run.

On the summit of The Old Man Of Coniston, Pannone Outdoor Weekend 2009

While Amanda and I are racing in Congleton, Lucy will be tackling the same distance at the Great Eastern Run in Peterborough. Lucy is looking good for a great run, so I wish her the very best of luck. Seeing your work come together on race day is a great feeling.

While I’m now coming into the final phase of my training for fivemarathons, my cousin Melanie is just beginning her preparations for the New York Marathon. Mel is kindly planning the transport options to ensure that my support team will get to see me at various points on the route in NYC. Check out http://running.about.com/od/marathonsandreviews/a/nycmarathonfan.htm, which will give you a feel for the issues involved. Dealing with two million other spectators would be my chief concern. Fortunately, I only have to think about my running. Mel’s own training is coming on really well, notwithstanding the snow which is already falling in Athabasca, and we’re already talking about possible races for next year. The BMO Vancouver Marathon on 2 May 2010 is looking good, with Mel and I running the half marathon and marathon respectively.

My colleague Amy will also be running in New York. Amy has been working incredibly hard for the last eighteen months and the race will be an amazing achievement. We chat often and share marathon tips that we’ve picked up. Exactly as I was in 2004, I know that Amy is nervous about the last eight miles of the race. The atmosphere, the crowd, and the achievement waiting for you in Central Park keep you driving forward. I know that Amy will do it and her training should make her equally confident. Drinks on me when we’ve finished.

This week Hilly sent me some great new kit to trial: Hilly’s twinskin Lite Plus socks and their Capsule Long Sleeved running top. The socks are ultra lightweight and designed by Dr Ron Hill MBE himself. I trained in them this morning and they feel good – they’re already in the washing machine to be ready for Congleton in the morning!

Barcelona, 1 March 2009 3 hrs 57 mins (new PB)
London, 26 April 2009 4 hrs 01 mins
San Francisco, 26 July 2009 3 hrs 43 mins (new PB)
Berlin, 20 September 2009 3 hrs 46 mins
New York, 1 November 2009

This week’s training schedule:

Monday, 28 September 2009 6 miles easy
Tuesday, 29 September 2009 8 miles steady
Wednesday, 30 September 2009 6 miles hard
Thursday, 1 October 2009 Rest
Friday, 2 October 2009 Speed work
Saturday, 3 October 2009 Scottish Highlands: whitewater canoeing
Sunday, 4 October 2009 Scottish Highlands: whitewater canoeing

Christies is the charity which provides funds for, and supports, the work of the world renowned specialist cancer centre, The Christie, in Manchester (see www.christies.org). Macmillan provides practical, medical, financial and emotional support for people affected by cancer and campaigns for better cancer care (see www.macmillan.org.uk).

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonschristies

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonsmacmillan

Visit us at http://www.fivemarathons.com/

Join the fivemarathons Facebook Group

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

Happiness Is A Warm Gun

2009-10-01T17:33:00.007+01:00

Last weekend’s Berlin Marathon was a really great event. After weeks of hard training and anticipation, I was relieved to finally hear the starting pistol. I found the race itself hard work. The 26 degree heat made it important to drink plenty of fluids, but the water stations were like rugby scrums. To make matters worse, they were giving out the water in plastic cups – try drinking from one of those when you’re endeavouring to run 8 minute 20 miles. If you’re anything like me, most of the water will end up either on your running top or up your nose. The real problem however was my stomach. After 10 months of carbing, my body appears to have developed a wheat intolerance. I’ve been aware of it since before San Francisco, but it’s definitely getting worse. Until Berlin, I’d been fine with pasta, but after my carb-loading on the Friday and Saturday before the race, my body finally worked out that pasta is largely wheat. As a result, my stomach was cramping for almost all of the race. I simply had to grit my teeth and try to ignore it. After all, you can’t put the race off to another day. Sir Roger Bannister once said, "The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win”. While I never looked like troubling the podium, I did get within 3 minutes of my PB, so I was pretty relieved about that.

With Martin before the race

Election fever is currently gripping Berlin and each of the lampposts on the route of the marathon was covered with election posters. On race day, Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat and Free Democrats Alliance held a wafer thin 48 per cent to 47 lead over their rival leftist coalition. In the event of a draw, I assume that normal German rules apply: first party to burn down the Reichstag wins.

"And the crowd has gone bananas!" - news of the result in Berlin reaches Ireland

On our way home, Martin and I bumped into a client at the airport in Berlin. He and his wife had also run the marathon. I knew that he’d been running, but I hadn’t realised that he had signed up for Berlin. I’d visited his offices in March, after the Barcelona Marathon, and we’d talked about the fivemarathons and the training involved. He said that he wanted to start running, and he’d called me several times to discuss training, kit and nutrition. Over a drink at the airport, he explained that Berlin was his second marathon, having run Edinburgh earlier in the summer, and that fivemarathons had inspired him to do it. That was a great feeling.

Last Wednesday saw fivemarathons’ largest daily total for personal donations since we started. Over £350 in one day, which is fantastic when you consider that there’s only one race left to go. The fact that interest is still growing, rather than tailing off, is testament to the great work being put in by fivemarathons’ marketing team. One particularly impressive donation was via my good friend and former colleague, Emma, who completed £105 of statutory declarations on behalf of a client and, rather than receive payment herself, she asked the client to donate the money to fivemarathons. What a fantastic gesture!

Downtime in Berlin, the day after the race

Apologies for the delay in preparing this week’s blog. I spent the weekend in the Lake District guiding Pannone’s Outdoor Weekend with Martin and Tei. The event went really well, with an extended mountain walk on Saturday and off-road driving on Sunday. There were some great moments. For example, if we raise over £250 this week, I’ll tell you all about Martin sleepwalking into a bedroom belonging to two of our guests.

Training for New York began in earnest this week. Only four weeks on Sunday until the big day and Harris & Ross’ Alan Raw (http://www.harrisandross.co.uk/) is working very hard to keep me in one piece and ready to run. Throughout my preparation for the marathons, I’ve been lucky enough to avoid cramp, however in the fortnight leading up to Berlin, I was awoken several times with painful cramping in my left popliteus muscle. The popliteus muscle sits behind your knee – when you straighten your leg, the muscle pulling your knee backwards, and locking your leg, is the popliteus. I could feel that there was something wrong when I was stretching before a run. As I stretched my quads, by bending my knee and pulling my foot up towards my bottom, my swollen popliteus felt like a golf ball was stuck behind my bent knee. The day before I flew to Berlin, my leg was particularly stiff and I was even limping slightly. Alan set to work manipulating the muscle and employed some acupuncture to release the tightness. It worked perfectly, and by race day it felt as good as new. Having dealt with my problematic popliteus, he is now working on my left soleus medial belly. When I signed up to run the fivemarathons, I had no idea just how essential Alan’s physiotherapy would turn out to be.

I'm often asked whether I get bored with running, especially 50+ miles a week. I'm never bored, but sometimes it is hard to summon the enthusiasm to get started, not least when it's the middle of winter in Shap, minus 6 outside and snowing. In those situations, I just ignore any misgivings and get started by changing into my kit. By the time I've done my stretches, I'm chomping at the bit and desperate to get underway. It pays to not contemplate too much, and to just do it. As the great Bill Shankly once said, "If you find yourself in front of the goal, and don't know what to do, just put the ball in the back of the net and we'll discuss the options later".

Barcelona, 1 March 2009 3 hrs 57 mins (new PB)

London, 26 April 2009 4 hrs 01 mins
San Francisco, 26 July 2009 3 hrs 43 mins (new PB)
Berlin, 20 September 2009 3 hrs 46 mins
New York, 1 November 2009

This week’s training schedule:

Monday, 21 September 2009 REST

Tuesday, 22 September 2009 REST

Wednesday, 23 September 2009 REST

Thursday, 24 September 2009 REST

Friday, 25 September 2009 REST

Saturday, 26 September 2009 Pannone Outdoor Weekend

Sunday, 27 September 2009 Pannone Outdoor Weekend

Berlin Marathon

2009-09-21T22:15:00.002+01:00

I’m pleased to report that yesterday’s Berlin Marathon went well. Despite the 26 degree heat, and a decidedly unhappy stomach, I finished in 3 hours 46 minutes. Full details in this week’s blog.

Barcelona, 1 March 2009 3 hrs 57 mins (new PB)

London, 26 April 2009 4 hrs 01 mins

San Francisco, 26 July 2009 3 hrs 43 mins (new PB)

Berlin, 20 September 2009 3 hrs 46 mins

New York, 1 November 2009

This week’s training schedule:

Monday, 14 September 2009 Rest
Tuesday, 15 September 2009 2 miles easy
Wednesday, 16 September 2009 1 mile easy
Thursday, 17 September 2009 2 miles easy
Friday, 18 September 2009 Fly to Berlin
Saturday, 19 September 2009 1 mile easy
Sunday, 20 September 2009 Berlin Marathon

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www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonsmacmillan

Visit us at http://www.fivemarathons.com/

Join the fivemarathons Facebook Group

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

The Cartwright Group

2009-09-16T12:14:00.005+01:00

I'm delighted to announce that the commercial vehicle bodybuilder and trailer manufacturer, The Cartwright Group (http://www.cartwright-group.co.uk/), will be fivemarathons' Gold Sponsor for the Berlin Marathon. Even as we speak, The Cartwright Group's logos are being applied to my running top for Berlin and TEAM fivemarathons' tops for the Great Eastern Run and the Congleton Half Marathon. Many thanks to John Cartwright for his help in arranging Cartwright's sponsorship. The money which they have kindly donated will help Christies and Macmillan in their invaluable work.

Barcelona, 1 March 2009 3 hrs 57 mins
London, 26 April 2009 4 hrs 01 mins
San Francisco, 26 July 2009 3 hrs 43 mins
Berlin, 20 September 2009
New York, 1 November 2009

Christies is the charity which provides funds for, and supports, the work of the world renowned specialist cancer centre, The Christie, in Manchester (see www.christies.org). Macmillan provides practical, medical, financial and emotional support for people affected by cancer and campaigns for better cancer care (see www.macmillan.org.uk).

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonschristies

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonsmacmillan

Visit us at http://www.fivemarathons.com/

Join the fivemarathons Facebook Group

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

Alan Turing

2009-09-12T22:23:00.007+01:00

Mathematician Alan Turing is rightly regarded as a war hero and the father of the modern computer. During the Second World War, Turing worked tirelessly at Bletchley Park’s Station X, where he was a key member of the team which unlocked the secret of the Enigma code used by German U-boats. His work directly saved countless lives and helped to ensure the Allied victory. After the war, he moved to the University of Manchester, where he became deputy director of the computing laboratory and worked on the first modern programmable device, the Manchester Mark 1.

Memorial statue to Alan Turing in Manchester's Sackville Park

In 1999, TIME Magazine named Turing as one of the 100 Most Important People Of The 20th Century for his pivotal role in the development of the computer. In what turned out to be a very US-centric list, that was some acknowledgement of Turing’s work (see http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/turing.html).

Tragically, due to Turing’s homosexuality, he was prosecuted for gross indecency in 1952. The conviction ruined his career and he committed suicide at his home in Wilmslow two years later, aged just 41, by eating an apple which he had injected with cyanide. It’s a little-known fact that Apple Macintosh’s logo – an apple with a bite taken out of the side – is considered to be a tribute to the great man, in grateful recognition of his pioneering computing work.

This week, Alan Turing received an apology from Prime Minister Gordon Brown (see http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20571). Mr Brown said, “It is no exaggeration to say that, without his outstanding contribution, the history of World War Two could well have been very different. He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war. The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely.”

“While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him.”

“So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work I am very proud to say: we’re sorry, you deserved so much better.”

You may be wondering why Alan Turing is being featured in a marathon running blog. Well, on top of his other achievements, Turing was a world class marathon runner. In 1947, he completed the Leicestershire Amateur Athletic Championships Marathon in a stunning time of 2:46:03. Bear in mind that, in 1947, the world record stood at 2:29:19. Even as an amateur runner, who could only train in his spare time, Turing was managing to get that close to the record. To put it in context, it would be the equivalent of somebody like me running next Sunday’s Berlin Marathon in 2 hours 21 minutes. Given that, even with a good head start and a following wind, I’ll be lucky to finish within 3 hours 45 minutes, you get some idea of just how great a marathon runner he was.

Turing competing in 1946

In spring each year, the Ely Runners stage The Turing Relay, which is a six-stage relay race on riverside footpaths from Ely to Cambridge and back. These paths were where Turing trained while he was a Cambridge don. It looks like a fantastic event and a memorable way to acknowledge a great man. I may suggest to TEAM fivemarathons that we enter next year. In the meantime, I’d better go and pack for Berlin.

Barcelona, 1 March 2009

London, 26 April 2009

San Francisco, 26 July 2009

Berlin, 20 September 2009

New York, 1 November 2009

This week’s training schedule:

Monday, 7 September 2009 10 miles steady

Tuesday, 8 September 2009 Rest

Wednesday, 9 September 2009 6 miles steady

Thursday, 10 September 2009 6 miles easy

Friday, 11 September 2009 Rest

Saturday, 12 September 2009 4 miles easy

Sunday, 13 September 2009 3 miles easy

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonschristies

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Visit us at http://www.fivemarathons.com/

Join the fivemarathons Facebook Group

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

Duncan vs Heile

2009-09-07T18:14:00.009+01:00

Many thanks to fivemarathons’ PR Manager, Rob Ainscough, who has secured invaluable coverage in this month’s Messenger (the magazine of the Manchester Law Society) and Macmillan’s newsletter, both of which will bring our fundraising efforts to a wider audience.

Fivemarathons article in Messenger Magazine

Last week, I saw an online advertisement from the organisers of the Berlin Marathon, which

invited spectators to “Join us in Berlin to see Duncan take on Heile”. For one brief moment, it

looked like all of Rob’s promotion had paid off in a big way. Sadly, they were referring to the impending showdown between this year’s fastest marathoner, Duncan Kibet of Kenya, who won the 2009 Rotterdam Marathon with a time of 2:04:27, and world record holder Heile Gebreselassie of Ethiopia, the only man to have ever run faster (2:04:26 in Berlin in 2007 and 2:03:59 in Berlin in 2008). Berlin is a lightning quick course, which has seen six world records since 1998, including the last three men’s world records, so both Duncan and Heile will be chasing a new world record on 20 September.

It’s now just over a week until Martin and I fly to Berlin for the marathon and I’m really looking for it. There are several ways in which you can follow the race:

you can sign up for text message updates at:
http://www.pervasive.jku.at/marathon/berlin/2009/index-en.php?switch=1&token=1925855941. Simply type in the number of the runner you wish to follow (mine is 30394), plus your mobile phone number, and you’ll receive real time updates on your runner’s progress through the race;
Universal Sports will broadcast live coverage, on-demand videos and highlights of the race. Just log onto www.universalsports.com. Universal Sports will also provide the same coverage for my final fivemarathons race in New York on 1 November;
after the race, you can view a personalised video of your chosen runner’s race at www.mysports.tv. Available on the day after the race (Monday, 21 September), simply log on and click on the camera symbol next to your runner’s results to watch video from various camera positions along the course. The cameras are linked to each runner’s timing chip to ensure that they catch him / her on film throughout the race.

Best wishes to my coach, Laith, for a speedy recovery after a nightmare mountain bike accident last weekend. It was sufficiently serious that the Mountain Rescue had to be called. They suspected that he had broken his pelvis and called the Air Ambulance, which airlifted him to hospital in Lancaster. Fortunately, his pelvis wasn’t broken, but he had suffered serious muscle and ligament damage. When I spoke to him, he'd been given heavy-duty painkillers but, remarkably, he’d retained his sense of humour. Through the morphine-induced stupor, he even managed to relate this gem from a recent race: Laith and a friend had arrived early at the event, before anyone else. Laith's friend, we'll call him John, decided to use one of the hundred or so portaloos, before the masses descended. Once installed in the portaloo, he was surprised to hear another chap go into the one next to him, especially because all of the others were free. He was even more surprised when the chap started to engage him in conversation. Apparently, it went something like this:

Chap next door: "Hello, mate"

John: "Er, Hello"

Chap next door: "How's it going?"

John: "Ok, thanks"

Chap next door: "What are you up to?"

John: "What do you think I'm up to? Take a wild guess!"

Chap next door: "Listen Dave, I'll have to call you back - the bloke in the next cubicle is talking to me.”

While we've already descended to the murky depths of toilet humour, I might as well tell you about the chugging (or charity mugging) to which I fell victim this week in central Manchester. I’m sure you’ve experienced it yourself: two students, working for a well-known charity, collar you in a pincer manoeuvre and seek to convince you to set up a standing order into the charity’s coffers. On this occasion, it was a well-known environmental pressure group. After the initial disappointment of me confirming that I wouldn’t be handing over my bank details, the chugger suggested some practical ways in which I could help the environment. For example, apparently I can help save water by putting a brick in the toilet. With the amount of carbs I’m eating, that shouldn’t be a problem. That quip impressed no-one, but I did make good my escape.

You can now view photos from Barcelona, London, San Francisco and each of TEAM fivemarathons’ races at www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/

Barcelona, 1 March 2009

London, 26 April 2009

San Francisco, 26 July 2009

Berlin, 20 September 2009

New York, 1 November 2009

This week’s training schedule:

Monday, 31 August 2009 6 miles easy

Tuesday, 1 September 2009 Speed work

Wednesday, 2 September 2009 6 miles brisk

Thursday, 3 September 2009 8 miles steady

Friday, 4 September 2009 Rest

Saturday, 5 September 2009 Mountaineering

Sunday, 6 September 2009 Marshalling Helvellyn Triathlon

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonschristies

www.justgiving.com/fivemarathonsmacmillan

Visit us at http://www.fivemarathons.com/

Join the fivemarathons Facebook Group

View fivemarathons photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivemarathons/