Want to run the London Marathon? - Read On!

In the last few days I got two pieces of good news. The first great news is that XLP Research Trust has arranged for me to get acesss nice event at a local wine bar for me and my supporters – and for me that means access to masseurs and for my supporters some nice refreshing drinks I hope.

The second is that everyone reading my blog, and beyond, can join the fun and if somone takes up the challenge I know then I will have someone else to share the pain with :-).

The XLP Research Trust works closely with a charity called the PiA (http://www.pia.org.uk/) which is an ‘umbrella’ charity for conditions like XLP. This a great charity supporting many people across the UK. PiA still has 3 places left for this years London Marathon (April 17th) so if you think you are a fit and trained person (or just really fancy the waddle around London) then give me a shout on the email you get this blog through?  There is a commitment. PiA are looking for an upfront £100 registration fee as well as a commitment to raise somewhere in the region of £1250 for them through sponsorship (they will help you with this).


Unfortunately the close date is this Friday (21st) so you need to move sharpish (no pun intended)…..

If you join the fun then you too would have access to a nice event at a local wine bar for you and your supporters – along with masseurs and refreshing drinks!

Any takers?

Cancellations, new records and good friends!

It has been two weeks since my last blog post. A lot has happened in that short time.

1. I suffered my first ever cancelled race in Germany on January 6th due to ice on the route
2. Bernard Doering and I ran perhaps the most treacherous 7km I have ever run after the race was cancelled. I survived but in all reality we should have realized the race was cancelled for a reason.
3. Petri Koivuluoma came out and ran the Rheinzabern 15km on Sunday January 9th with me (and about 1000 others ;-)). Ulla Mayfield was there too along with a few other folks I have met at previous races. No Bernard unfortunately as he was off on a work trip to Canada.
4. In the Rheinzabern race I managed to destroy my best 15km time finishing in around 1 hour and 9 minutes. I have only run 3 races at that distance and 2 were on ice and snow. Petri ran 1 hour and 16 minutes which is excellent for his first ever 15km. Ulla also broke her best time too.
5. During that race I unfortunately got my first small “injury niggle” that I was able to manage through the duration of the race but which caused me to have to take it really easy over the last week until Saturday that was…
6. On Saturday January 15th I ran my longest distance since 2003 covering 35.31km (21.94miles) in about 3 hours and 24 minutes
7. On Sunday January 16th a kind Donor pledged 250 pounds to the cause all the way from Canada taking the pledges up to 3251 pounds. Thanks to Ken N.. I will drop you a personal email tomorrow. It is really appreciated!!!
8. Since the start of January I have managed to clock up 122.76km of running so far despite having to slow down to very little last week to try and avoid a more serious injury. I should be able to get back to normality next week with any luck

Of course all this has happened and last week I had my first week back at work as well, over the last two weeks I took in two Thursday night quizzes and I also got to catch up with a lot of good people along the way including great company at Thai and Indian meals. Life is good…. training is good and 2011 is off to a good start. I hope it is for each of you as well.

In February I will be heading to San Francisco for a few days so any suggestions for good running routes there are much appreciated. I will also be in Cary in February and I need to find a route for a 25-30km training run near to SAS so again I am open to suggestions from the runners amongst you out there! If anyone fancies joining me then that would also be great :-)

Until then I’ll be out running the trails on a regular basis and at the time of writing my next race is a 20km scheduled for February 6th in Rheinzabern. The third of the 3 race (10, 15 and 20km) series.

Thanks for reading!

I put three pictures in from the weekend. The first on shows Petri and I at the start. The second shows me at about the 7km marker and the last one Petri at the 7km marker.

Happy New Year: A review of 2010

Wow, it is January 3rd already and that means the race is 3 months and 13 days away as of today. It is time to start to change the training I have been doing from general mileage to targeted runs including interval speed sessions, long slow runs and recovery medium speed runs. This is likely to see my overall mileage start to lower slightly oddly enough although the quantity will be replaced somewhat by quality.

Before I go on to the rest of this blog I wanted to wish each of you reading this a Happy New Year. Right at the end of 2010 I recorded a short video message (30 seconds long) which you can click on to watch below. I hope that everyone reading had a great Christmas and that 2011 brings health, luck and a lot of fun for you, your family and for all your friends.



Looking Back On 2010

What use would a new years blog be without a look back on the previous year? During 2010 I was lucky enough to run races with a large number of people in a few different countries. Running moved from being something attacked to help with my fitness to something I was starting to take semi-seriously and which also was about travelling to do some racing. It also meant the camera was not with me in races as much as in 2009. Below are some pictures of people I raced with in 2010 as well as some commentary. At the end of this email you will find a list of the races I did in 2010.

Drei Königslauf 10km - Bernard and I before the start - Jan 6th	Rheinzabern 15km - Ulla (+ friend), Bernard and I before the start - Jan 9th
Rehinzabern 15km - Bernard finishing	Rheinzabern 15km - Happy Mark after finishing
St Ilgen 10km - March - Lucy Crossing The Finish Line	St Ilgen 10km - March - Mark + Damo after finishing
Hördt 20km - March - Mark on the trails	Heidelberg Half Marathon - April - Mark with Vincenzo
HD Half Marathon - April - Mark on Old Bridge	HD Half Marathon - April - Mark Finishing
HD Half Marathon - April - Bernard Finishing	HD Half Marathon - April - Mark + Bernard at the end
St Leon Rot Half Marathon - April - March finishing	Brussels 20km - May - Didier Mushidi before the start
Brussels 20km - May - Mark on the trail	Brussels 20km - May - Mark keeping warm
Brussels 20km - May - Mark after finishing	Gothenburg Half Marathon - May - Bernard, Mark & Bengt Pre-Race
Gothenburg Half Marathon - May - Mark at the finish	Weingarten Lebenslauf (30km) - June - Hannes pre-race
Weingarten Lebenslauf (30km) - June - Mark post-race	Karlsruhe Half Marathon - Sept - Ulla and Mark at start
Karlsruhe Half Marathon - Sept - Ulla and Mark at finish	Karlsruhe Half Marathon - Sept - Beer at the end
Karlsruhe Half Marathon - Sept - The Medal	Karlsruhe Turmburg Lauf (10km) - Oct - Mark, Allegra and Bernard at the start
Hockenheim Ring 10km - Nov - Mark, Bernard and Bengt at the end

2010 Runs

• December 19th '10 - Heidelberg 22.3km (Training Run). Watch Time 2:17:48
  
• November 28th '10 - Cary 25.07km (Training Run). Watch Time 2:19:47
  
• November 26th '10 - Heidelberg 16.15km (Training Run). Watch Time 1:32:15
  
• November 23rd '10 - Heidelberg 15.19km (Training Run). Watch Time 1:13:54
  
• November 20th '10 - Heidelberg 29.07km (Training Run). Watch Time 2:51:51
  
• November 14th '10 - Heidelberg 31.1km (Training Run). Watch Time 2:58:41
  
• November 1st '10 - Hockenheimring-Lauf 10km. Watch time: 44:06
  
• October 17th '10 - Wieslocher Volksbanklauf 10km. Watch Time: 47:39
  
• October 2nd '10 - Durlacher Turmberglauf 10km. Watch time: 45:33
  
• Sept 19th '10 - Karlsruhe Half Marathon. Watch Time - 1:45:55
  
• Sept 5th '10 - Heidelberg 21.1km (Training with Bernie) - 2:13:11
  
• August 28th '10 - Mannheim (With Petri) 10km. Watch Time: 48:47
  
• July 4th '10 - Wilhelmsfeld Half Marathon. Watch time - 1:50:23
  
• June 19th '10 - Weingarten (Training). Watch Time: 1:58:08 (30.11km in 2:54:12)
  
• May 30th '10 - Brussels 20km. Watch Time: 1:37:45
  
• May 22nd '10 - Gothenburg Half Marathon. Watch Time - 1:50:35
  
• May 16th '10 - Heilbronner Trollinger Half Marathon. Watch Time - 1:44:21
  
• May 2nd '10 - St Ilgen Half Marathon. Watch Time - 1:38:59
  
• May 1st '10 - Mannheimer Brückenlauf (with Bernie) 10km. Official Time: 50:18
  
• April 25th '10 - Heidelberg Half Marathon. Official Time: 1:49:03. Watch Time - 1:46:50
  
• March 28th '10 - Rheinzabern Half Marathon. Watch Time: 1:41:17
  
• March 27th '10 - St Ilgen 10km. Watch Time: 43:29
  
• March 21st '10 - Heidelberg 21.1km (Training. Watch Time: 2:04:46 (22.47km in 2:11:31)
  
• March 13th '10 - Heidelberg 21.1km (Training). Watch Time: 2:00:33 (31.56km in 2:59:23)
  
• March 7th '10 - Hördt 20km. Watch Time: 1:36:57
  
• February 7th '10 - Rheinzabern 20km. Official Time: 1:38:24
  
• January 31st '10 - Heidelberg 20km (Training). Watch Time: 1:56:41
  
• January 24th '10 - Heidelberg 21.1km (Training). Watch Time: 2:10:51 (22,99km in 2:21:24)
  
• January 17th '10 - Heidelberg 20km (Training). Watch Time: 1:50:38
  
• Jan 10th '10- Rheinzabern 15km. Official Time: 1:17:16
  
• Jan 6th '10- Dielheim 10km. Watch Time: 48:36