update on training... continued

mon 26th:
ran to work sub 23 minutes (in darkness)
ran home late after meeting (darker!)

tues 27th:
ran to work sub 22 minutes
Ran after work with Pres' and Ole... via Kongens Have, Lakes, Frederiksberg Alle, Sondermarken and the graveyard then home - about 16km in 85 minutes...

update on training...

weds 21st:
ran to work in 21:14 - matching pb
ran home after Danish lesson in dark

thurs 22nd:
ran to work under 23 minutes
after work ran to Frederiksberg Have, where met with Henrik and ran around graveyard and Sonder Marken witha fast finish home...

fri 23rd:
ran to work under 23 minutes
after work done lap and half of lakes with pres'... about 14km in total home.

sat 24th:
ran with Henrik around Damhus So about 9.5km (legs felt tired)

total for week: 52km

The Bet...

After the Medoc marathon and the great north run I was in desperate need of some fresh impetus... I had signed up to the Dublin marathon which was 6 weeks after the GNR, but was very wary of failing to make some real progress in my times... To date I've run 2 marathons; NY last year in 4:48 the second half of which was brutal and the Meodc 3 weeks ago, in 4:47 and the second half of which again was equally brutal.... the Dublin marathon is therefore make or break time - another poor showing and the whole North Pole idea may have to be shelved, sad but true!

The Bet was thus very much something which I instigated... after the GNR, I had made a friendly wager that my time in Dublin would be better than Jonnsie's time in NY the following week... I had just ran the GNR 11 minutes faster than his time, so I felt like it was a fair bet... Back in work the Monday after the race, the realisation of the make or break nature of the Dublin race hit home so I riled Jonnsie into offering to make a much bigger bet... He took the bait and we settled on a double or quits bet on a large amount of money I owed him. A LARGE amount!

SO - 6 weeks of make or break... in more sense than one... interesting times indeed!

From BBC...

Four men die in Great North Run

Men's race winner Zersenay Tadesse finishes in record time
Four men have died while taking part in the 25th Great North Run, police said.
The men were among 50,000 people running the 13-mile course in soaring temperatures from Newcastle to South Shields on Sunday.

Northumbria Police said there had been no major incidents during the event and the deaths were unrelated.

The Men's Race was won by Eritrean Zersenay Tadesse in 59 minutes 5 seconds, beating the previous record by one second.

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: "I can confirm four male participants in the race have died, which is more than the usual one or two - but every year more people are taking part."

He added further details would be released later.


Runners in fancy dress took part in the run

Ethiopian Deratu Tulu clinched victory in the woman's race in 67 minutes 33 seconds.


The Great North Run is the largest half marathon in the world.

First off were the wheelchair competitors and in the men's race David Wear from Surrey, who last won in 2003, smashed the British record finishing in a time of 42 minutes 39 seconds.

Mike McCleod - who won the first ever run - started the run, which raises millions for charity each year.

A host of celebrities are also took part, including former Doctor Who Christopher Eccleston, and BBC football commentator John Motson.

Great North Run

After the disappointment of the medoc marathon I was determined to make amends one week later in Newcastle!

Along with 50 thousand others we lined up early Sunday morning for the world's biggest half marathon. I doubt many others had been out in Newcastle until 4am - so again preparations were not text book, to say the least! Myself an Jonnsie (who again flew in from NY) were joined by Andy Philps and Samsie (both ran the NY marathon with us last year - and Samsie is also signed up for the North Pole expedition!)

It took over 7 minutes for the us to get to the start line... where upon we were blasted by a very annoying man on a megaphone ranting on as we prayed to get running. The pace wasn't awfully slow like the start of Medoc and we made progress down what ultimately is a dual carriageway through the centre of Newcastle... after about 2 miles we crossed the Tyne and the famous Gateshead bridge where we were cheered on by Jonnsie's Mum and Nan! His non text book fry up that morning forced him to stop and chat with them while we ploughed on... just then the rd arrows flew low overheard streaming out coloured smoke behind then which was very impressive... What was less impressive was the race's route... apart from a brief sting through the middle of Newcastle, we just ran along the dual carriageway with little or no support and with bugger all scenery to look at! not inspiring!

We had to wait for 5 miles to the first water stop and it was greatly appreciated as the temperature was hot and we were sweating profusely (no doubt in part due to the previous nights drinking!).... At about 7 miles myself and Samsie lost Andy, and form there on we just moved at an OK pace along... we were chatting frequently and I felt as thought I was running very much within myself, which made a nice change. I would have run faster but with so many people in front and around it was very annoying to be constantly weaving your way through people... we mainly stuck the the central grass margin and ran on that....

with about 3 miles to go we saw some commotion on the ground to our right... without wanting to look I saw a runner getting his chest pumped by medics and surrounded by people... it made both of feel very uneasy and couldn't take my mind off it...

With about 2 miles to go we ran down a welcome hill and suddenly were running along the coastal road in south shields! mad a nice change form dual carriageway signs and bridges... Again we saw some more incidents with medics but chose to keep moving and not linger to look on...

We crossed the line at 1:57 on my watch which given the crowds and the fact I felt very good and not tired I was much happier with... Very sadly we were later to learn that 4 people died during the race! Time to start taking running more seriously and cut out the drinking beforehand....

With Mel at finish line!

Jonnsie still in beret finishing marathon du Medoc

Marathon du Medoc

What a super marathon!! Held in the medoc region of south west France... with a course through the wine estates of 59 chateaux and starting and finishing on the banks of the Gironde river in Pauilliac - so a super setting. On top of that, the vast majority of runners dress up in fancy dress creating a real carnival atmosphere - which is obviously infectious for the supporting crowds.... to throw in even more madness there are 20 official wine tasting stops on route (as well as a stop on 38km for oysters and steak!!!)...

Having heard about the fancy dress aspect we purchased some very suspect 'Frenchmen' costumes - which consisted of a beret, moustache, neckerchief and stripey t-shirt... as you can see from the photo the moustache went down very well with some people!!

I ran the race with Jonnsie (who had flown over form NY for the weekend with Anna and his Mum)... and I expected to be able to run with him and finish comfortably... but it wasn't to be!

The days up to the run weren't perfect preparation - namely getting very pissed the Tuesday beforehand and even going on a wine tasting tour the day before (when in Rome...) But not having a breakfast on the morning of the run was very silly in hindsight. We started out slow winding our way through the narrow streets of Pauilliac... some people stopped after a few hundred metres at the first wine stop - we couldn't stomach the smell let alone stop to stat drinking wine... At 4km we passed the hotel we were staying in and were cheered on by Mel, Lorna and Anna and Cora!! We kept running through the estates of Latour and down to Beychevelle (very impressive overlooking the Gironde with classical music playing as we ran through the grounds of the estate!)... about this stage we started to appreciate how damn hilly the course was... as we were running through a lot of vineyards and along rows of grapes and not always on proper roads per se... Jonnsie started to complain that we were only ever running up hill, and I suspected he wasn't very wrong!

At 20km we met up again with our itinerant supporters by the side of the road. At this stage we decided to stop and chat for a minute... we were generally feeling OK. Soon after leaving the cheers behind I in particular started to feel uncomfortable... the beret and top were swiftly discarded and what I thought would be a comfortable run started to become more laboured.

We reached the 30km mark 30minutes slower than I had run it in training, which was a sign of how poorly we were travelling... about this stage Jonnsie sampled some wine... I still couldn't stomach any alcohol. As the Km's slowly went past we intermittently changed from slow run to a walk... we were stopping now at every water stop and our legs were screaming with aches... After a similar experience in my first marathon last November in NY I really thought I was much better prepared this time round... fool on me.

As we slowly got into the last 5km Jonnsie started to fret we wouldn't even get home in under 5 hours!!! But after the 39km mark we decided to bite the bullet and run on for home... the last 1km or so we finished quiet strong and belied our earlier struggles.. as we approached the red carpet finish my Mother popped out of the crowd and handed me the @Irish tricolour... we saw Mel, Lorna et al cheering us in and we crossed the line together! Neither of us had the energy to stop out watches but we ran something in region of 4:47 (1 minute inside my NY effort). Medals and bottle of medoc's finest red later we headed for a bath and lie down....

So Brilliant event, a super weekend for all concerned, but very much back to the drawing board with regards running marathons!

North Pole seems more distant than ever.............

Cora and the moustache in France !

6 days...

...to go until M du M !

Ran home form work thursday evening with Henrik - perhaps I was pushing too much as he said afterwards we ran too fast... but nice run via Kongens Have and Parken none the less... only managed a short 40minute run over hilly terrain in NW sjealand this weekend - but not too worried... will aim to take it easy in next few days up to Medoc... also must make some effeort to 'carb up' and hydrate... (curently clutching large glass of 97' bordeaux...)

hmmmmm

Acclimatising peut etre???