24th of August 2014 is significant date for My Wife. This day Bozena has run run her first marathon. It was in Longford.
That post supposed to be written by Bozena but she still hasn’t done that so it will be me… Cause Bozena decided that she would like to run in Paris marathon next April I wanted to introduce her to distance which will be waiting for her there. It is always easy to say marathon length is 42.195 km but how long time you need to walk/jog/run whole distance, how many steps you need to take to make sure that you will cross the finishing line. Are you really mentally prepared to take that challenge? All that is really hard, so need to try it first. That was the idea behind that to show to Bozena marathon expirience.
Where is my fitness?
Went somewhere? Don’t know, but looks like it unfortunately. Not long ago I haven’t got a problem to run daily 30 km for 4 days and additional two half-marathons over the weekend. Actually, it was not even two months ago. And now? Now I’m struggling to run 23-25 km a day, morning exercise making my heart to run faster and demands from me more oxygen (that was never the case before) and last but not least getting big cramps at the end of marathon (last two)…
20 to go…
Last weekend I have finished my 5th marathon. And like Roundwood one, this one wasn’t easy for me. I know that most of participants were running all 4 marathons in the Quadrathlon event and I admire them very much but I must admit that I was struggling… Again.
Horror course…
If you running marathons with East of Ireland marathons remember that when Don Hannon will set the course it will be really tough… and it was. Today’s Roundwood marathon was really, really hard. 4 laps with at least 100 meters incline on each lap. Considering that I have always run just the flat marathons (Ballina one had just 170 meters incline all together) I would call this one a HORROR one. But having said that experience was really nice and I was very happy to finish that one. My GPS watch showed 4:02:21 when I have crossed the finish line but have to admit that I have to use the facilities after first lap so the official time given by EOI will be probably somewhere closer to 4:08…
9 seconds less…
And I have run my second marathon now… This time it was in Ballina, Co. Mayo. Small marathon, just about 40 participants but atmosphere was great. We have met MCI members as well as organizers from Ballina AC. You can actually say that it was a family weekend not just a race.
Marathon? How many km is that?
– I have run marathon last weekend.
– Really? How much you have run 5 or 10 kilometres?
– No, it’s marathon?
– So, 10 or more?
– Marathon is 42.2 km or 26.2 miles…
Sounds French…
I have decided to focus my efforts on running marathons. Of course that doesn’t mean that I won’t participate in other shorter runs but they will become warm ups and preparations for the marathon season… I know that can sound absurd having just one marathon under my belt. Decision has been made. Marathons are the targets… As many as I can. And seriously I’m thinking about 5 a year. Started midyear 2013 I would be happy to get 3 by the end of December.
Nice marathon
So it has been decided… Next marathon will be in Nice at 9th of November. It should be a really nice one when it comes to views. Whole route between Nice and Cannes leads just on the Mediterranean seaside. Considering that we both, me and my Wife, love the South of France, Alpes Maritimes (or as they are calling that region here French Riviera). So coming back there in different time than Summer would be nice and connecting that with running marathon will be great…
Surprise
Before marathon me and my Wife we had two days pasta party to get as much carbs into body as possible (at least me 😉 )… Was trying to avoid irritation to stomach. Just in case before run I had bar of chocolate. And everything seems to be working well (was just missing my runs during weekend).
Everything went well
Now that all the marathon excitement had settled it’s time to summarize the fundraising efforts. I must admit I wasn’t expecting such a good result in both race time and amount collected. It was a challenge and my first time in both cases. But having committed myself to that task I had to deliver 😉