Two weeks from Number 2

So it's just a little short of a fortnight before Marathon Number 2 in this year's challenge. My training has gone okay since the King Island Imperial 20 miler (32km) about three weeks ago, although I probably should have got at least two more 30 plus km runs under my belt (I only ran one).

What does this mean? Well the downside is probably that I will be a little underdone again for the Canberra marathon on 13 April. But the upside is that I have probably enjoyed a better recovery from King Island than I had planned.

I'm really looking forward to the run in Canberra as it is bound to be a lot cooler than Hobart was in January, and given my druthers, I would run in the cold any day of the week (within reason). But I am also looking forward to catching up with a an old Navy mate of mine in Canberra for his 40th birthday the night before - won't that be a tame celebration for me?

The plan for the next couple of weeks is to continue with my standard training. The only concession I am going to make for a semi taper is that I will cut my long run back this coming weekend to 20km, and I'll miss the middle distance 20km run in the middle of next week.

Canberra - here we come.

King Island Imperial

Okay, so it's been a few weeks (almost 8) since my last post. I've had to battle a couple of little niggling injuries and a cold, but the most disturbing thing was losing a bit of motivation.

I was still running 5-6 times a week, but I just didn't seem to have the keenness for the longer 20-35 km runs. And that's strange for me, because normally they are some of my favourite ones.

Oh well, no major problems though. One of the great benefits of setting out to run 8 marathons in the year is that I have plenty of time to get the last one right!

But onto the positive news.

On Sunday 9 March, I ran the King Island Imperial 20 again. It's my third time and I have to admit that it's my favourite run at the moment. There's lots of things about the run that are terrific ...

• It's a challenge - 32 km or 20 miles (about 3/4 of a marathon).
• It's in a beautiful setting - on an island halfway between mainland Australia and Tasmania.
• It's got a smalltown atmosphere - there's only 2,000 (approx) people on the island (lots more cattle) and it seems almost everyone gets out to help out or watch the run.
• There are some beautiful beaches to swim at.
• All the runners are handicapped and set off slowest to fastest.
• It's VERY social - great dinners, beer and wine.

I headed down to King Island again with some running friends from Melbourne from the Gunn Runners. And that's something else that also seems to make the run so much fun. Sharyn gets all our accommodation, rental cars and flights coordinated (yep, it's like herding cats) and we spend the weekend enjoying each others' company.

So it's the Canberra Marathon next up in April. I'm all remotivated again now, so I hope to have 3 x 100km plus weeks over the next 5 weeks, followed by a shortish taper.

More to follow.