14 miles......done!
I almost added 'no problem' to the above, but that would be what is called in the English vernacular as....LYING!! It's a reeeally long way. There was the usual mucking about before setting off, but in the end I took it in my stride (albeit a shortening one towards the end). The route works well with predominantly downhilly bits at the start; okay, this means uphilly bits towards the end; but that's the encouraging part of that phrase; 'towards the end'. Once I hit the hardest part of the journey I am almost almost home.
Twenty-six miles does feel like a long way away; but I'm just going to have to trust the training schedules and advice of all those runners that have done before me. If you can run 18-20 miles in training, this will get you to marathon distance on the day.
The weight loss is certainly having an effect; but not quite in the way I expected. Rather than making the run easier, it feels just as hard; the difference being that I am running faster. I need to check my stopwatch, as if it is to be believed; I have just run 14 miles, a quarter hour faster than I ran the 13 miles of Newcastle (less that ten minute miles!). I don't feel like I'm going all that fast, but maybe the increased fitness is doing the trick, and 'not all that fast' is a level that is getting faster!
One mistake I did make was playing the theme tune to 'Champions' on the Ipod with a mile to go; it always gets to me. Champions is a semi-famous movie based on the true story of Bob Champion and Aldaniti; winners of the Grand National after the former underwent treatment for cancer and the latter recovered from a career-threatening injury. I remember watching the incredible race, and as you can no doubt guess, it is a very emotional a film. The theme tune is instrumental, and let me tell you I have never heard a piece of music with more feeling; it is both desperately sad, and hugely inspiring.
If there was ever a tune which was to summarise all that has gone on in the last two years - and hopefully what will be happening in the next eight weeks - this is it. The overweight man with no hope of being anything else, the personal declaration that this is unacceptable, the first faltering steps on a longer journey, and ultimately the joy of success (which, finish the marathon or not; this has still been......but I still think I will!).
So how can one instrumental track say all this? Well, you'll just have to download it to see........or......hear.......
8 weeks - 56 days - to go!
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