Few weeks back I made a decision to complete a half-marathon this year. I set up myself a realistic goal of completing the distance of 13.1 miles (21 km) in less than 3h. For regular runners it may not seem fast, but for an obese IT pro guy it is.
Yesterday I decided to do a trial run to see how it feels. I have never before tried to keep required pace for more than 9.5 miles. And… I succeeded!
Here are few thoughts I had on my way:
* good podcast helps, but it should not be anything important. I do not really remember last 40 min of what I heard.
* using food supplements and sugary drinks helps. The body does not refuse to go further when filled with carbohydrates. In the past I tried walking just on a water and my body just stopped moving along the way.
* good socks matter. I was stupid to wear a pair of this socks and my right foot hurts today! My feet started to hurt about halfway. I knew that they will hurt a lot when I finish, but I was able to tell myself to deal with it. Don’t be sissy, push it!
* I kept controlling time all the way. Endomondo help by saying updates every mile. Calculating the remaining distance, checking required pace and estimated arrival time helped to take my mind of the walk itself, which I found quite helpful.
* At 2h15min I have made less that 10 miles which caused me to panic a bit. I had to make a decision – move slowly and miss my 3h target (with option to beat it in the next attept) or push more to make it. I decided to push and my 12th mile was fastest of them all with time 11m1sec!
* London is a multicultural, but quite segregated place. It’s fascinating how quickly it changes.
** I’ve started in quite traditional olde english area
** I quickly moved to a rural park
** Next area was inhabited mostly by Africans
** Then followed a patch of multicultural rich people with few Bentleys on driveways
** A mile down the route Asian and Middle East communities dominated the view – with Mosques, Arabic and Hindu centres
** Last bit of the way was “new urban” with people of all origins, but without much traditional look of any kind
See more details about my route on endomondo site:
And one more interesting view showing time of each mile I walked:
Btw: in September I will doing the half marathon in support of the Shine Walk to support Cancer Research UK. I’m collecting money to support their hard work and so far I got £197 out of my £250 target.
Big thank you to those who support me!