[Watcher]

Week #9 has concluded with 45.5 miles run bringing me to 342 miles on the year. February being a shorter month will probably have me at 170 miles.

This morning was a cold 27° and three of the other run days were impacted by winds of 20+ mph and one run day was cut short due to hail.

The London Marathon wanted to know if I preferred a finishers medal or did I want to forego receiving a medal and have a tree planted instead. 🤔 That was a tough decision. Plant a tree or receive a medallion ? LOL....

Yesterday I was at the NYRR run center and I was looking at the 2022 London Marathon medallion and I didn't like the design. Hopefully the 2023 design will be nicer. Both the Berlin and NYC medallions from 2022 were nice. Sometimes they just miss on the design.

I also found myself at The Dakota yesterday where John Lennon was killed. The building and entrance way are unchanged. The entrance way definitely has a haunting feel to it. Someone was singing one of his songs in Strawberry Field on a sunny but rather cold day.

I signed up for a 5 mile run in NJ which host's 10,000 runners in May and finalized my reservation for the Marine Corps Marathon in October.

[Biscuit]

Watcher,

Sounds like you’re in fantastic shape for the London Marathon, getting lots of miles in!
I’m following the London Marathon beginners plan, it’s a mixture of long runs and more high tempo shorter runs mixed in with walks etc. I’m sticking to it pretty much! Did 8 miles this morning in the cold and the sun poked out her / his head for the last couple of miles. It’s a glorious day here in London, if conditions are like this on the 23rd of April then we’ll be fine!

Not long to go now!!

[Watcher]

Hi Biscuit,

Yes I cannot wait for better weather. I had snow for the first time today so I took a running break. I just moved my short run from 8 to 12 miles this week and the long run to 16 miles.

My 12's are fine as I ran them back to back on Sunday and Monday. Tomorrow I will see how the 16 goes and then I will finish the week on Friday at 12. I have a lot of rain scheduled in the forecast this week. So I have 12 miles at 3x a week and 16 miles at 1x a week for the next few weeks until I can jump to 12 and 20.

I have a 5k on Sunday which is the 5th qualifier for the 2024 NYC Marathon and I will treat that as an off day. I think London is going to be here rather quickly. It hasn't hit me yet. Maybe in April.

Enjoy your day

[Watcher]

I closed out week 10 with 52 miles run. The 16 mile run on Wednesday went fine but the 12 mile one on Friday was a bit labored. I am at 400 miles for the year.

This morning I began week 11 as I ran a 5K which was race 5 of 9 for the 2024 NYC Marathon. I forgot that I am also working to gain entry to the 2024 NYC Half Marathon at the same time which is a big deal around here at 25,000 runners.

They announced a max capacity of 6,000 runners for this one. I last ran this one in 2020 right before the covid shutdowns. This was another hilly course and I took 3 minutes off of my 2020 time. It was a cool 41° so we are still inching closer to Spring.

The London Marathon had me plan my itinerary for the Saturday prior to the race. I decided to just stay with the group for the day. The organizers will bring me to the expo in the morning, then there is a 3 hour city tour planned, and then a buffet dinner.

Dierks Bentley is coming back to New Jersey this Summer and I cannot believe that it's already been 4 years since his last visit.

Tomorrow I am back to running 16 miles.

[Watcher]

My 16 mile run went fine again today which was followed by kickboxing. I ran a bit slower then the first 16 mile run last week. Yesterday was only a 5K however it's run at a faster pace so my muscles were a bit sore.

I tried this new Science in Sport (SIS), Isotonic Energy Gel, and it's more liquidity then the GU ones that I usually use so I'm happy with this new find. I think I was given one during a recent 10K and I liked the way it easily went down.

I'm also a big fan of Gatorade Fit at the moment, as well as, my GU hydration tablets. I need to find some electrolyte packets now that I'm running longer. I'm about to try Blueberry Muffin Whey Protein Isolate so I will see how that flavor tastes.

I think I made unique choices with my United Kingdom hotels. I stayed in a 300 year old hotel in Regensburg for example. Today the hotel from York emailed me as they gave me some basic information.

They gave me a door code and upon entry I will find my welcome letter and key. Right there I wondered what type of hotel I picked. Apparently it's a B@B. My first thought was to bail on it.

I think I will stick with it because they said we hope you don't change your mind, lol.  I stayed in one once in Cape Cod. IDK if I'm a big fan of that type of place, however all the English Tea and hot beverages I want. I hope that means English Coffee.

I had to Google Breakfast Hampers and Breakfast Baps, York sausage, English bacon, lol. Anyway it was highly rated and that's why I chose it initially and it offers views of the medieval city walls.

I wonder what awaits in Bath. I know it's old and historic. London I did not have a choice. It's near Buckingham Palace and I never would pay that for a hotel if it wasn't for my running a marathon excuse. Edinburgh turned out to be an apartment/hotel and that's a couple hundred years old itself.

Then I finish back in London. I guess that's part of the adventure. So a surprise awaits at each location. I had three hotels in Germany and they all turned out fine. This time I have five hotels. Bath, London, York, Edinburgh, London.

I have to finish out this week on Friday as I need to rest on Saturday for a half marathon that I have on Sunday. So I will try to attempt 20 miles for the first time on Sunday in conjunction with the half marathon. I think I can run 20 at the moment based on the two 16 mile runs.

[Watcher]

This morning was the half marathon. The sun was out but it was cold enough for breath to be seen. I ran this course in 2020 and it traverses through rolling hills in equestrian country.

This race had 500 runners and the course was labeled as being hilly and difficult. I had more room to maneuver on this course so I was a bit aggressive and ended up recording 8+ min miles for each of the 13 miles.

There were many hills and I just attacked each one while shaving 16 minutes off from my 2020 finish and set a new half marathon best time for myself in the process.

All of my hill running appears to be paying off at the moment as I ran relatively easy. Afterwards I ran 7 miles to reach my 20 mile run goal and was just surprised with the overall results.

The additional 7 miles was run at a slower pace however I was surprised there were no negative effects from running 20 miles. So I will just study the run to see why it appeared to be easier than I would have imagined. I believe I could have run the full marathon today.

It was much easier running the half marathon with people as runners tend to non verbally push each other. The additional 7 mile run was a slower pace because there was just no push.

I will now take 2 days off and get back to running on Wednesday as week 12 has gotten off to a good start. I have rain in the forecast this week and my next 20 mile attempt will be next Sunday for the start of week 13. I have half marathons planned for weeks 14 and 15 to help with the 20 mile runs like today. I am in the neighborhood of 460 miles so far in 2023.

[Watcher]

Week 12 has concluded with 48 miles run bringing me to 485 miles in 2023 and 533 miles overall for the London Marathon. The temps are still cold and there were 20 mph winds on Wednesday.

Daylight lasts until 7pm now so we continue to inch closer to better weather and longer days.

I have a 5K followed by a 15K on Sunday and then I will add 8 miles afterwards to bring me to 20. They already sent out an email saying there will be no water for the 5K because it's anticipated that it will be frozen. I've been running in 30° so I don't see it as an issue and I wouldn't stop for water anyway during a shorter race.

This course is advertised as being flat and I have never run it.

[Watcher]

This morning was the coldest day of the year for me at 28° for a 9am 5K start. My feet and legs were frozen and they warmed up about a mile in. There were probably 400 runners for this race and I kept each mile in the 8 min range.

The 15K was run afterwards and probably had the same amount of runners but I could tell it was mostly a different group based on their bib color. So not everyone ran both races. Again I hit each mile in the 8 minute range.

Afterwards I ran 7 miles to bring me to 20 in the 9 minute range but the winds were miserable by then at 25 mph. It was a sunny day but just cold and windy overall.

This race was held in the vicinity of Lord Stirling's property. He was a General in the Continental Army. The home is long gone so I'm not sure why the property has been preserved as I have never been there and I wasn't exploring it today.

I had to research this Lord connotation since that is British. His name was actually William Alexander and he claimed to be the heir to the title Earl of Stirling in Scotland. The Scottish Court denied his claim in the 1700's, however he still called himself Lord Stirling nonetheless.

March can be a miserable month with this weather. It really needs to start warming up already. 20 miles is looking good after two attempts. The wind was really miserable during that final 7 mile leg.

The pattern pretty much repeats again this week and then it's back to 20 miles on Sunday with the help of a half marathon challenge which is actually a separate 5K and 10 miler which I have run two previous years.

[Biscuit]

Watcher,
Sounds like you're getting the miles in recently!
I pulled my calf muscle yesterday on a 20 mile run, so need to rest it properly and hope it is better in time for the marathon in 5 weeks. I'd be gutted to miss it.

[JohnnyBravo]

The Scottish Court denied his claim in the 1700's, however he still called himself Lord Stirling nonetheless.

Good to know, Lord Watcher!

Sincerely,

Lord Bravo