7 Days, 7 Runs

One of the reasons I've decided to take on 12 marathons in 12 months is so that I keep up my running for a whole year. As with any other people, I find that once a run is over I give myself a "well deserved rest". This tends to last until the next time I feel unfit and decide to run a new marathon.

This week I took on the rather insignificant challenge of running every day for a week (baby steps, ok?!). It was easier than I thought it was going to be, the miles ticked over easily, and I totted up 50 miles for the week. None of the runs were over 10 miles, which I'll be doing next year, but it was an important start. In particular, the Jurassic Coast Challenge that I hope to run in March is 3 back to back marathons over 3 days. I won't get much of a chance to recover between runs, so will need to condition my body to cope with that level of intensity.

I hope to continue back to back days of running into the Autumn - each day felt great last week - but I hope to increase the number of miles I'm covering next time I try it.

I've now signed up to an Autumn challenge - Hellrunner in Cheshire on the 3rd November.

Number 2

I've now signed up for my second, but first of 2013's, marathons.
It turns out that England in January doesn't have much to offer in terms of organised marathons, so I've settled for one in Anglesey (north of Wales), on the 19th, organised by Endurance Life. It's a coastal marathon so should be pretty scenic, as well as really cold...!

This week I've been ploughing through a book called "Eat and Run" by legendary ultramarathon runner Scott Jurek. This, and Dean Karnazes "Ultramarathon Man" are both making me think hard about running, and why I'm trying to increase my capacity for running long distances. I think one of the most insightful things Scott has said is not to forget the joy of running. For me, not taking out my iPhone, or my Garmin to track my speed, distance and time seems like a crazy thing to do, but actually (having now done this for a few runs) has taken the pressure away from running. Perhaps inevitably I might be running slower, or not as far as I think I am, but running without caring about distance, time, or even my whereabouts is surprisingly liberating and enjoyable. My plan now is to try and mix up my training, some with my RunKeeper iPhone app, and some without.

Oh, and read Eat and Run, it's great.