2013 a new year brings new challenges

Firstly can I apologise for my lack of recent blog posts, to tell you the truth not much has happened & as the majority of you follow me on Twitter, Runkeeper &/or Daily Mile you pretty much know everything I do anyway, if sometimes maybe too much. I do use Twitter far too much, but who can blame me when you fantastic lot are on there supporting my every move. So let me start this off by thanking you all for the support, laughs & jokes you've given to me over the last year. You guys have been bloody brilliant. Anyway, now the gushy crap is out of the way let's get down to business, 2013's Challenges! What are they?

So kicking 2013 off we have VLM, yep I'm running:

The London Marathon, 26.2 miles, 21st Apr 2013... Oh & I'm running it in fancy dress as everyone's favourite Super Hero.... MEGA MARTIN!

Iron Man Who? Move over its Mega Martin Time ;o)

26.2 miles in a suit that's weakness is not Kryptonite but in fact rain, something our country is well know for. To be honest I'm buggered any way as if it's a hot day I'll bake under all my foam muscles (sorry ladies thats right, the above muscles are not mine). All is good though because it's all for charity, all proceeds raised from VLM will go to the terminally ill children of Rainbow Trust so please dig deep & sponsor me via the link on right of this page or why not make it a bit more exciting & guess what time I will finish the Marathon in, whoever guesses correctly will win a Cash prize. (£3 per guess, £2.50 goes to charity & 50p goes into the Winning Pot. The more people guess the more you win) Guess by going HERE & placing your bet.

Then after a bit of "rest" I will run:

The Edinburgh Marathon, 26.2 miles, 26th May 2013, as... Errr just me (so far)

I cant wait to get back up to Edinburgh, twice I've been there to run, once we passed through the ghostly city center in the middle of the night during RelayGB & the 2nd was when we ran 12 Hours around & around & around Arthurs Seat. It will be nice to be able to actually see this city in all its glory. This will also be a great run to help me get training miles up for the TR24 challenge in July & a great chance to meet up with some of you guys, I know of a few of you running this & VLM so if you fancy a beer or two after just give me a shout.

Then it's THE BIG ONE!

On the 27th July I will set off racing in the ADIDAS THUNDER RUN 24, The TR24 a 24hr endurance race around Catton Park in Derbyshire. I will run as many miles around the 10k trail course as I can in the 24hrs allotted from the 27th to the 28th of July. I ran 50 miles in my 1st Ultra Marathon last October so the next challenge has to be the 100 right? HELL YEAH IT DOES! So here starts #Project100in24 & here's where you come in, fancy joining me on this challenge? No I'm not asking you to run with me but I do need a support crew, *Que advertising voice* Are you a crazy individual that just likes helping others? Then just read on. Obviously a background in nutrition, running, psychology, physio &/or massage would be brilliant but to be honest if you can tell the time, have a friendly smile & can point me in the right direction that would be bloody brilliant! All I'm asking is for a couple of hours (more the merrier) of your time, hopefully we can get a support team together to cover the full 24hrs. We will have a large Outwell 9 man tent with 3 bedroom Pods & a large living space, fully working kitchen, music, I'll even throw in a couple of beers for you. Look, it's turning into more of a party as we speak. If this interests you just give us a shout & let me know what hours you can do.

Are you already running TR24 as part of a team? Why not join me in my humble abode of a party tent? Share my tent with me, I'll not be there so you'll also act as a guards when not running. I have pods you can sleep in when not running (or guarding) & apparently Solo Runners (Me) get priority camping spots, this means that my tent is closer to the track than the teams tents..... Or so I'm lead to believe, I don't think there is a club shop or swimming pool near by but every little helps. All I ask is you help me along the way, tell me if I'm on pace every lap to beat my challenge, give me the kick up the ar$e when needed & dry my eyes when I'm an emotional mess through lack of sleep & will to live.

Then to end it all off:

THE YORKSHIRE MARATHON!!! BOOOOOOM!!!
(^extra sound effects added to show my excitement^)

On the 20th of October, exactly 1 year after I ran my 1st Ultra Marathon I will run a marathon in Gods own County (No offence meant to my none Yorkshire friends, I'm sure home county is lovely too.) Yes, 26.2 miles around the stunning county of Yorkshire, to be precise it its around the beautiful city of York. This will be my 3rd Marathon of the year & I will be joined by one of my closest mates & best man to my wedding, Russ Walker. Russ only started running late into last year & has already shown promise in long distance running by knocking out 2 races last year, 2 Half Marathon Races may I add, this however will be Russ's 1st attempt at a marathon & will also be running it for Rainbow Trust as part of TeamBOB, you can sponsor him using the same links on the right if this screen. Closer to the time we'll revival more about this challenge & introduce Russ better but until then can we all give him a HUGE welcome to the team & check out his Twitter page @Rustyw5.

Each challenge will in time get its own post with more details but for now that's my drive & aim for 2013, there will be other mini (or not so mini) challenges, races, runs & rides in the pipeline but the 3 Marathons & #Project100in24 is where my head is at right now. My lower legs are still causing me problems, I rested during December as I promised to let them heal but in last week popped out a few miles just so as I could break the 1000 miles ran in a year marker then a couple of weeks ago I ran Hull Parkrun in the attempt to beat my 5k PB. Beat it I certainly did, 19:23 was the time putting me in 6th place in the day. Chuffed to bits was an under statement, I finished strong & recovered fast, I then went out the following day on my 1st long run Sunday of the year with Russ, this was a brilliant 17 mile trail run over moors, making it the furthest Russ had ever ran. We both finished with only stiff knees, a great result to say Russ was victim to the invisible sniper in the trees, his foot vanished into a peat bog and stopped dead as the rest if his body (arms up high Platoon stylee) flew forward through the air landing him face first in the dirt. I so wish we had it on camera! Sadly we never and sadly I'd not got away as Scott free as I'd hoped. Monday was a rest day & as the day went on my lower legs showed the signs of Decembers injury, a pain in my right shin & the backs of both ankles were a tad soar. I have ran a couple of times since but the pain/numbness keeps coming back so I've booked a physio session to get it looked at, fingers crossed it sorts it's self out soon as I need to be training for London right now.

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings, dam you've done well to get this far *Applauds*
Please come back soon, in fact why don't you click that Subscribe button? (Its on the right & down a bit.) That way you get a shiny new email every time I post some stuff in here.

Until next time, laters....