Kilomathon!

We're back! We've had a couple of weeks away from ye olde blog due to quite a few other things going on (mostly me going to Chicago and then both of us going to Manchester immediately thereafter). While I was in Chicago, I did manage to get a run in around the Millennium Park, taking in Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" sculpture (the Bean) and the Crown Fountain. It was a bit nippy, but at least the snow had been pushed off the paths.

Since we last wrote, we've had a few upheavals in our training regime caused by illness and injury and by James having a new job in Swindon, meaning it is no longer possible for him to get up an hour earlier to run in the morning (he would then technically be getting up before he went to bed). So, I've started running to work and he is now running in the evenings. We're still doing (or attempting to do) our long runs together at the weekends.

This last weekend, we went up to Derby to see my folks because it was my Mum's birthday and Mother's Day (and the dog's birthday!) and to take part in the world's first Kilomathon. What, I hear you cry, is a Kilomathon? It is, apparently, the "perfect race distance" - 26.2km, the same number of kilometres as there are miles in a marathon, which equates to about 16.3 miles. I beg to differ about the perfect race distance thing because I fail to see how anything longer than about a mile could be considered perfect. Well, anyway, perfect or not, the course was 26.2km long and went from Nottingham University to Alvaston Park in Derby. That's right, from Nottingham to Derby. From one city to another city. I ran that far. If you're in any way interested, you can see the route by following this link - if you do take a sneaky-peeky, you will notice that the net elevation of the race was uphill, making it even harder, obviously.

The weather was pretty good and the support from the local people on the course was fantastic - I would like to extend particular thanks to (a) the good people of Sawley, who made sure I didn't go the wrong way at a bit that wasn't signposted or marshalled and (b) the good people of Borrowash, who had come out in force to cheer on the runners and really made a difference to my mood. Although I was pretty near the back of the pack for most of the race, I was well in front of the feared sweeper bus, the purpose of which was to pick up anyone too knackered or injured to keep to a pace faster than 15 minutes per mile. I was also able to pick off many of the said knackered and injured people in the closing stages and finish with a veritable horde behind me in 3:48:48.


James was, as usual, a lot quicker than me, but the difference was diminished by his knee injury from the previous day when Emma the greyhound tripped him over while they were racing each other round the 5-a-side pitch (interesting training technique, racing a greyhound). His finishing time was 3:06:10 (or 3:06:09 if you believe his Garmin rather than the official time). We both really enjoyed the race and would certainly consider doing it again - in spite of the net uphill elevation, the course was actually remarkably flat for most of the way and took in a fair amount of pretty countryside and quaint villages. The organisation was generally pretty good, too, and there were armies of helpers from the Air Cadets and Rainbows hospice charity who worked together really well.


Our next racing challenge is now the London Marathon itself. Part of me just wants to get on with it now. There are less than 6 weeks to go and I'm already looking forward to the post-race sports massage at the Directors' Institute on Pall Mall!

Our fundraising has come on a bit in the last week or so. We are now at £1829.33 - our next big target is the £2k mark; could you be the one to get us there? You can sponsor us by clicking here. Thank you for all your support and good wishes!!