Category Archives: Marathons

29
Oct
2008

The extreme world of mountain marathons

5 comments
Posted in Marathons, Motivation, Running, Training
Ben and I are currently training for an attempt on the Bob Graham Round. 24 hours, 42 peaks, 27000 feet of ascent: 65 miles of fun in the Lakeland hills. I learnt about this challenge in the fabulous book, Feet in the Clouds, by Richard Askwith. The Original Mountain Marathon received huge publicity this weekend due to the [...]

Read more
19
Aug
2008

I hate gyms

0 comments
Posted in Marathons, Motivation, South Pole
Lets Biking, originally uploaded by aliraza*. Wise words from Miss Pollyanna (http://twitter.com/misspollyanna) “Well screw that! I am utterly sick of the turbo. I now know the reasons why I took up cycling. It’s not to race or win, nope sirry! It was to feel the fresh air on my face. To battle on a solo [...]

Read more
22
May
2008

Marathon des Sables on TV

0 comments
Posted in Marathons
This year’s MdS was filmed by ITV. They showed their programme this week. It was great to see the desert again as the memories rushed back. But I did not like the programme much. They did not show the vast majority of runners who were out there to actually run the race rather than a) [...]

Read more
01
May
2008

Toughest Races on Earth?

0 comments
Posted in Marathons
A list of the world’s most extreme marathons and the 10 Toughest Races on Earth. Click here for the full article. More exciting though: here are Ten Impossible Adventures for you to dream about. DON’T MISS A THING – FREE MONTHLY UPDATE BY EMAIL: Have you read Alastair’s books? Also available for Kindle, iPad and [...]

Read more
25
Apr
2008

Ultramarathon Man

0 comments
Posted in Marathons
Tent 91 at the MdS became huge fans of Dean Karnazes “Run if you can,” he wrote in his book about his ludicrous long-distance running achievements, “walk if you have to, crawl if you must. But never, ever stop.” This advice served us well (though did little to help my metatarsal!). So I wrote him [...]

Read more
12
Apr
2008

Marathon des Sables 2008

1 comment
Posted in Best Bits, Marathons
“What counts in battle is what you do when the pain sets in” – John Short “It’s not that we have a short time to live but that we waste a lot of it” – Seneca “Run if you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must, but never stop” – Dean Karnazes [...]

Read more
10
Apr
2008

Broken foot, broken dream?

0 comments
Posted in Expeditions, Marathons, South Pole
Three months ago I sat waiting for my x-ray results. I was seen by a man who I am sure knew less medicine than I did. He said my foot was fine and to go away and rest and stop wasting his time. Now the same pain is back, but thankfully not the same expert. [...]

Read more
08
Apr
2008

Snap

0 comments
Posted in Marathons
Broken my left foot.In plaster for 6 weeks.Not allowed to even cycle.Grumpy. DON’T MISS A THING – FREE MONTHLY UPDATE BY EMAIL: Have you read Alastair’s books? Also available for Kindle, iPad and children.
24
Mar
2008

The Devizes to Westminster canoe marathon

4 comments
Posted in Expeditions, Marathons
The weekend did not begin well. My paddling partner, Lucy, and I were loading the car to head for the Devizes to Westminster canoe race, “the longest non-stop canoe marathon in the world”. Lucy accidentally dropped a life-jacket in the Thames and so I had to ignore the snow and jump into the river to [...]

Read more
20
Mar
2008

6

0 comments
Posted in Marathons
Great relief on Sunday when I made it, with no increase in pain, through the Bath Half Marathon. My time of 2 hrs 35 (yes, 2’35 and yes, you did hear correctly: it was a half marathon not a full one) may not instill much confidence about my capability for completing the MdS, but it [...]

Read more
15
Mar
2008

12

0 comments
Posted in Best Bits, Marathons
What a chimp. Training for “the toughest race on Earth” is picking up: after 6 weeks of enforced rest, of frustration, optimistic stretching and sleeping in a leg brace I went for my longest run in ages. 20 minutes to the top of Clapham High Street and back. My heel still hurts but the run [...]

Read more
15
Mar
2008

Preparation is key

0 comments
Posted in Marathons
Good news! Lucy finds another kayak for us! Great! But it needs to be picked up before 7pm so we can use it this weekend and because the guy who owns it is away all weekend. So I dash home from school and jump in the car and that is all the dashing I do. [...]

Read more
12
Mar
2008

Pride comes before a… (Devizes to Westminster cock-up)

1 comment
Posted in Marathons
The day began well. During my lunch break I managed the longest run in six weeks. Granted it was only 15 minutes, but it was pain free. I collected my gigantic race shoes from Profeet for the MdS, extra big to accommodate swollen, tortured soles. And the sunset was great. But then I arrived at [...]

Read more
05
Mar
2008

Running a Marathon when you’re 100?!

0 comments
Posted in Marathons
The truly amazing story of “Buster” who is running this year’s London marathon. Aged 101! DON’T MISS A THING – FREE MONTHLY UPDATE BY EMAIL: Have you read Alastair’s books? Also available for Kindle, iPad and children.
03
Mar
2008

23

0 comments
Posted in Marathons
First Footsteps. I ran again today. OK, so it was only for 10 minutes, it was barely above walking speed, and I was absolutely petrified that that sudden sharp pain would return to my foot, but it was a start. I now have 23 days to get myself from being able to jog for 10 [...]

Read more
28
Feb
2008

27

0 comments
Posted in Marathons
With less than a month to go I should be finishing off my training into a highly tuned racing snake. Instead I’m hauling up and down lengths of the local swimming pool, stewing and hissing with frustration like water droplets on a hot stove. My foot still hurts but the unforgiving minute will not wait [...]

Read more
24
Feb
2008

31

0 comments
Posted in Marathons
More than 3 weeks since I last ran. Fitness ebbing. Impending pain increasing. DON’T MISS A THING – FREE MONTHLY UPDATE BY EMAIL: Have you read Alastair’s books? Also available for Kindle, iPad and children.
19
Feb
2008

36

0 comments
Posted in Marathons
After almost three weeks brought down to Earth by a slightly sore toe I am not in the best of moods. I’m sick of swimming, I can’t be bothered with it any more. No longer am I expecting to arrive in the Sahara as one of the fittest stages of my life. Instead I’m going [...]

Read more
10
Feb
2008

25 metres to the next horizon

2 comments
Posted in Marathons, Motivation
I realised this week that I have been breaking one of my own cardinal rules.I have always procrastinated doing an Ironman* event because I felt that there was no way I was able to swim far enough.And yet I am also a firm believer that “you’ll never know unless you try.” Due to having tendonitis [...]

Read more
06
Feb
2008

49

0 comments
Posted in Marathons
“You are running, Mr. Humpriz, too much. Eighteen miles in one week is maybe not so good for you. For your knees, for your heeps…”“No, not eighteen miles per week. Eighty. I’m running about eighty miles a week.”“Eighty miles?!”“Yes, often with a 10kg pack.”“No, Mr. Humpriz. No. This is not good. You must rest.”“But I [...]

Read more