Running has taken over my life

I’ve been running for about 6 years, with varying degrees of enthusiasm and commitment. I ran the Loch Ness Marathon in 2007. It wasn’t a good run – I  have a nonspecific allergy that flared up on the day of the race, and I think I’d under-trained, so I ended up getting round in about 5-and-a-half hours. I’ve been toying with the idea of doing another marathon ever since, but various factors – principally apathy and injury – have prevented me.

That’s all about to change. Chris and I have signed up for Loch Ness again this year. That’s right, 26.2 miles along the shores of the loch. I have a training plan (made up by one of the members of the local running group I recently joined) and this time I’m doing it right. I’ve already increased my mileage to 25-30 miles a week (this week I’ve done 29, including 13 today!) and I’ve been treating my running group sessions as tempo runs, thus sneaking in some speedwork (which I’ve never had the discipline to do before).

I thought I might blog about my training as a further aid to motivation. So here are some statistics for you:

Including the race itself, and taking into account our holiday to Kenya (during which I will not be getting any running done!) my total training mileage from next week will be about 530 miles. Yikes!

Now according to the AA Route Finder, it is 583 miles from where I live in Dunblane to Land’s End. I have run 58 miles in the last 2 weeks, which puts me at Abington Services – halfway to England! Running an imaginary journey is a trick I picked up from one of my running buddies, which I’m going to try as a motivational tool. Along with rewarding myself with the odd sports massage and pedicure!

If I can just avoid injury and keep up my training I’m hoping to finish the race in less than 4 hours 30. Wish me luck!

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