Brighton Marathon 2015

Ran 26.2 miles for charity, raising funds for Coeliac UK. Ran those 26.2 miles as a personal challenge and resolution for 2015. Ran 26.2 miles in under 5 hours.

The Brighton Marathon was a brilliant experience. Stayed at The Neo, a boutique B&B in Brighton, suavely neo-Baroque, with an excellent DVD collection, and offering up both a comfy B and a scrumptious B, going the extra mile to get in some gluten free bread for me. Just around the corner from the Brighton Centre for the Marathon Exhibition, which featured a wealth of products and knowledge. Finally got around to trying the Beet It shots, havibg drank Beet It juice to start my day nearly every morning for the last year.

The run itself on the Sunday was very well organised, offering up an intoxicatingly fun atmosphere at the start and keeping me perfectly hydrated along the course, under crisp, sunny skies. Maybe a bit too sunny, but on behalf of the rest of Southern England, I wasn't complaining.

The course had a couple of segments that did double back on themselves, which was a bit tedious but always much easier when running the backtrack. After looping Preston Park and running through town, you're taken along a brilliant stretch out east along the shorefront towards Rottingdean and back. It helps that I am so naturally drawn to the sea so found the sights and sounds immensely soothing. We were rather lucky with the weather as Monday saw Brighton blanketed in a dense fog. I think I passed along the northern side of the Finish line as Duncan Maiyo won and there I was, half way through. We ran through some residential areas, always great to see the locals making thousands of strangers feel beyond welcome on their doorsteps. The last stage of the Marathon is looping through the industrial area out west along Basin Road, a somewhat grim place for people to hit their walls. But thanks to a second Lucozade Elite Running Gel, was able to soldier on without stopping (save to wave to a fellow Coeliac UK runner). The last 2 miles saw some amazing and much welcome support along the promenade and back up along King's Road to the Finish.

Ran 26.2 miles, loved it, and am already contemplating when I might do it again.

20 Mile Breach

That next 20 mile run I mentioned in my previous post? It happened. So many weekends in a row of intense mileage and surpassing previous distance records, but I think I hit a bit of a mental block this time around. Not a physical wall per se but I know my bluntness around mile 17 when I uttered something along the lines of never wanting to run again was just a sign of dehydration; I know why fluids are imperative. I know my body, I believe it can go all the way, and I know my mind, too stubborn to quit. Wate, a running gel, and more water, and away went the haze of disillusionment and I powered on for another 3 miles.

Speaking of running gels, at the recommendation of a colleague, I've tried Lucozade Elite Running Gels, which have sat well so far. I suppose the way maltodextrin is processed is not dissimilar to distilled alcohols, so they are coeliac friendly as far as I can gather and, more importantly, feel. My initial intent was to run au naturel, with just water and maybe a 9 Bar (seeded bars of goodness, my go-to snack of choice) but as I increase mileage and approach the dreaded wall, I see the physiological benefits of the running gels so I might pack two in my back pocket on the big day.

A lil late night ginger

New flat, new problems. Heating element for the fan component is not working, which was quite disconcerting when I had batter ready for gluten-free spiced carrot and ginger muffins at 11:00 pm but also a notable amount of stubborness to persevere and keep my promise to bring treats as fundraising incentives to work the following day.

Using the grill and convection microwave, I managed to get the lot done 3 hours later, to a respectable standard, and they went down well. We'll see how the next 20 mile training run goes tomorrow and whether I can stay on my feet long enough afterwards to bake something coffee flavoured. Still fundraising for Coeliac UK, and I've even raised my target, click here to donate!

Training Update

My weekday runs took a bit of a hit when life threw a curveball and we had to move at short notice. A 5 minute jaunt up-stream in the same postcode, we have a new flat and training is back on schedule. Am rather enjoying running part way home from work some evenings; admittedly only 5K but it saves me going all the way home only to go right back out, which was fine last summer, but less enticing in the dreary and damp London winter.

Weekend runs have been ace. My pace over long distances is getting slower and even over short diatances, I am nowhere near my personal bests of last summer, perhaps due to the extra layers in "winter" and the backpack in the evenings. But in terms of endurance, I feel great. Coming home from a long weekend run to the smell of a fresh gluten-free loaf of bread is truly encouraging. Half of it is inevitably inhaled within 10 minutes of emerging from the shower.

All for a great cause! Support and donations for Coeliac UK welcomed and my thanks shall be expressed in the form of doughnuts!

The half to the whole

With the Ealing Half Marathon under my belt, I feel confident about the 26.2 mile run in Brighton. The Ealing Half was such good fun, with tremendous local support and a jaunt through quaint, somewhat rural bits of London like Perivale Park that I never quite realised were there. I ran the half at an arguably safe pace in light of the fact that it was much hotter than anyone could have hoped for but it's fun to look at the GPS data and see that the sign near the 2-mile mark before Aston Road warning of zombies behind me and safety ahead well and truly gave me a boost.

Having run the half and been quoted as uttering "I could do that again", I concede that I am aware that running a full marathon is not just a matter of adding a multiplier. The inevitable, infamous "wall" when your body is depleted of stored energy, for one, is an obstacle to prepare for, both physically and mentally. I do think the fact that I regularly consume as much as a bear going into hibernation is a good start. I've had the vague objective of hitting an average pace of 9 minute miles since I started running. I currently sit at about 10 minutes on long runs. I have been advised that focusing on the distance itself rather than time should be my motivation as a first timer so the pacing is more of a long term goal. My username holds no relation to pacing, but rather an obscure sci-fi reference and nod to a comment my sister made one night playing Rock Band. The fact that I can now use it as a drive to live up to my own name, as a runner as well as a nerd, is all the better.

Brighton Marathon 2015

I will officially be running the Brighton Marathon for Coeliac UK in 2015! A cause quite obviously dear to me, I will be raising funds to help Coeliac UK conduct research into this auto-immune disease and raise awareness in the community, food manufacturing industry, grocery stores, and commercial kitchens across the UK. In the two years since my diagnosis, I have seen impressive and reassuring developments in the manufacturing industry, with better labelling amd availability in shops but I do think there is room for improvement in the way of awareness in commercial kitchens and restaurants, which is part of what Coealiac UK strive to do.

Running the Brighton Marathon by the sea will be a great challenge. It will be nice to have a fonder memory of Brighton than the time a seagull knicked my ice cream; a right ninja it was, but I'd let my guard down. Brighton also has a wealth of gluten-free restaurants I am eager to try, and having recently watched Nick Cave's biopic 20,000 Days on Earth, in which Brighton features prominently, I have a comforting, albeit unconventional, soundtrack for the broadening training regime. On the calmer front, more gluten-free baking is on the horizon for fundraising ventures. If you'd like to donate, please do click through; you have my thanks in the form of words, sentiment and gluten-free baking samples if you so choose - provided you're within commuting distance of London, or Montreal over Christmas!

Training Plan

1. A dry September. Between softball, Italy, 1955 Hill Valley, and Amsterdam, August, you were a blast.

2. Three weekday morning/evening 5k runs per week.

3. One big run each weekend.

4. Salads and/or jacket potatoes for lunch at work to avoid being glutenized. They're generally good with labelling allergens but might as well eat healthy anyhow.

Such is my September training plan for the Ealing Half Marathon Am applying for a spot in the London Marathon through Coeliac UK. The prospect of the running and fundraising combined is quite daunting and I expect the competition for the 5 available spots to be tough but am up for the challenge.