The Virtual Runner Running Blog

Happy new year (sorry I’m late)!  It’s a new year with new challenges coming in many forms. 

I’d firstly like to apologise to both my readers for not posting anything in some time.  I’d also like to apologise to myself for not having the motivation to just get off my backside and get out there running.

For the past few weeks I’ve done nothing but sit on my butt!  Yes, I was ill for a couple weeks out of that and I also had a bout of food poisoning, but there is a major laziness element at play too.

I’ve found it hard to get motivated when it comes to running and I think that the motivation will start to return.  In fact, it started to return last night when I was looking online at future runs/events.

My wife, my son and I are travelling to Canada this year (we have a house-sitter – all you would be robbers) in May for a couple of weeks to visit family.  Whilst we are there an event will be on that we took part in in 2007 – The Fredericton Marathon. 

The Fredericton Marathon is the name of the event, however there is a 5k, 10k, half-marathon and a full marathon to take part in.  We did the 10k a couple of years ago and it’s a small event but all flat because it’s in a river valley.

I was/am intending to do the Brighton Marathon on 18 April, however because of the lack of training going on at the moment I don’t think this will be realistic (do you?).  So, I’m thinking that if I get off my backside today and start running again that I can be ready to plod through my first marathon on 9th May instead!  In Canada!  My home country!

I was originally motivated to do the Brighton Marathon but it’s waned somewhat… not sure why.  The thought of doing the Fredericton Marathon has filled me with a new sense of motivation and also I think it’s fate that I’m supposed to run it!  It’s 17 weeks away which means I’ll have more time to train and get around the course too!

As for all of you and this blog… I will start boring you with my ramblings again.  Whether or not you read them is up to you!

Bring on the training!!

christmas, cold & flu, Fredericton Marathon, marathon training

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone out there.

Firstly I’d just like to complain about my self-inflicted over-eating fest over the past few days. Why oh why do we do it to ourselves? And, how it is physically possible to gain so much weight in such a very short period of time?

Well, for me the feasting and over-indulgence ends with Boxing Day. After today I’m back to eating (relatively) normal meals and the training is back on schedule.

As for the holidays themselves, they were great. My son got lots of toys (he’s two) and suffered toy meltdown. He didn’t know what to play with first and he still hasn’t quite figured out the whole concept of the gifts and santa etc.

My fiance got me a lovely watch (Swatch) which I’m wearing right now. My mother-in-law to be paid for our new 37 inch LCD television, which was very very nice of her. I got my fiance a new mobile phone and some new boots that she wanted. My son got every present we could find that we thought he would like!

As for my progress on my virtual run, I’m still in the province of Quebec going past Notre-Dame-de-Portneuf. I can honestly say I’ve never been there in person, but I haven’t been to most of Canada! It’s a big country.

I’ve travelled 1051 kilometres (653 miles) and I’ve got a very long way to go. With this coming year I hope to put a big dent in this journey and rack up as many miles as is safely possible and without injury.

As for future running events/races, I’ve already registered for the Reading Half-Marathon. I’ve also registered for a new race (I never did it this year) next year. It’s the Bupa 10,000 in London on 25th May 2009. I’m also hoping to do the Woodley 10k again in May 2009 as long as it doesn’t conflict with anything else.

There are many other races and events I want to take part in during the course of 2009 and I’ll register for them as and when they open up to registration.

Finally, I’d like to again wish you all a very happy holiday season and a prosperous and fantastic new year in 2009.

canada run progress, christmas, reading half marathon

59 days to Christmas! Isn’t it exciting?! I’m aware that Christmas is/was originally a religious holiday and I’m certainly NOT religious but I do love Christmas. I love how family and friends come together, the happiness, the presents, the songs and the movies. I could quite easily sit and watch Christmas movie after Christmas movie for hours. My favourite movie to watch during the festive season is It’s a Wonderful Life; it is the best movie to watch during the holiday season.

As for my running, I’ve now left New Brunswick on my virtual run across Canada. I’m in Quebec on highway 185 and approaching a town called Notre-Dame-du-Lac (which I’m assuming is near a lake!). I’ve already covered more than 738 kms on this run and I’ve got a long way to go, but I’m averaging about 5 km a day (it has been 143 days so far) which isn’t too damn bad for a “virtual” run!

152 days to the Reading Half-Marathon and my training is going fine so far. I’ve started increasing my long runs on Sundays and last Sunday I covered 14 km over 1 hour 20 mins. I’ll push it up a bit further and hold it up until Christmas. In the new year I’ll gradually increase it again so I’m prepared for the Half.

I’ve also previously mentioned that I’m going to go back to the running club to boost my training. I’ve been giving it some thought and I’ll probably go back during the Christmas holidays (I need to renew my membership anyway) and continue during early part of the new year before the Half. It’ll give my training an added boost with track sessions on Wednesday nights.

I’m running out of things to talk about (I did say in my very first post that I was crap at this) so I’ll leave you with a link to a news story about a race that took place on the weekend. All I can say is that I’m glad I wasn’t taking part in it!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/7691020.stm

canada run progress, christmas, running club