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.

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!