#Running the 26.2 and how to get ready for it in an emergency

Most things are not urgent, in my job I remind my clients that ‘nobody dies if we don’t finish’ whatever we are working on, but then yesterday as I was ambling round the Royal Parks Half Marathon I saw something that rather disturbed me – runners receiving medical attention. Now I’m not exactly a drama queen and so i didn’t immediately think OMG that could be me within the next mile but seeing what looked like really athletic people keeled over on the grass being treated by the wonderful medical professionals made me think about Snowdonia.

In less than 3 weeks I am going to to attempt the Snowdonia Marathon, considered to be one of the toughest marathons in the UK and I’ll be honest I really haven’t done the training for it. After my last completed Ultra (The Wall) I’ve had a succession of injuries and a lack of desire, that coupled with my complete and utter failure at the Thames Gateway 100 have knocked the confidence of UltraBoy somewhat. Then we have to add that yesterday my performance at the Royal parks half marathon which was the longest distance I’ve done in absolutely ages and it didn’t go nearly as well as I was hoping for.

Which brings me back to the runners who lay unmoved on the ground at the race yesterday, will that be my fate?

My solution is pretty simple, I have dispensed with my travelcard for work. I now cannot get on the tube as my ticket only goes into London and back again. This means that not only do I have to either walk or run across London in the evenings I also have to do it in the mornings, this will double the distance at a minimum and I can increase my standard evening running to about 10km. I’m not aiming to run Snowdonia quickly, I’m just aiming to finish it. I suppose effectively I just need to get the distance under my belt and then I can focus on the performance.

All of this will hopefully help me to pump up my fitness levels again – something I was seriously lacking yesterday and I’m also hoping that a combination of Pilates and new stretches will help ease the pain I’m suffering from in my hip. Of course there’s the final thing I’ve got in the plan to help me complete Snowdonia and that’s the wonderful sounding Xtreme Beach, 18km of delicious obstacle course – I’ve got 2 weeks to get ready for that. I do love a challenge