Well that's me halfway through the Marcothon 2013, a simple challenge to run every day in December for a minimum of 25 minutes or 3 miles. It sound simple but I've never managed to finish it although I recall starting a marcothon twice previously. Am i doomed to fail? It doesn't sit very well with me running every day, i prefer peak period of training and rest / light training.
I started December strongly having planned a back-to-back training run on the Pennine way, running and walking between Alston and Kirk Yetholm. This went well covering about 80 miles in the two days, with a 5 hour bivvi kip on route. More importantly I revisited the last leg of the The Spine race where through fatigue and possibly hunger I made some serious navigation errors on the race in 2011.
Since then things have went down hill slightly with a near fatal dose of man flu limiting my efforts to dog walking a 3 miles loop with an odd shuffle to loosen phlegm. #blouse
Looking ahead I have the Tour of Helvellyn race on the 21st December another new race and the Spine race starts on the 11th of January.
Monday 16 December 2013
Wednesday 4 January 2012
What is this Spine Race
I think the it could be the toughest race in the the UK and possibly Europe. The event is called the The Spine Race and is 268 miles long, covering the full length of the Pennine Way.
It usually takes 3 weeks in good conditions for a walker to complete the Pennine way. I aim to complete the race in 6 days or less running in the elite class. Strange there are only 3 people in my catagory and about 9 in the open catagory. The open guys are allowed 7 days to complete the race.
Not only is it a huge distance to travel on foot, it is being ran in JANUARY. I will have to carry all of my food, equipment, shelter and sleep system throughout the race. This is weighing in at around 12kg,, OH CRAP. As its a winter race it will be dark for 16 hours a day making navigation difficult. No-one will be hold holding my hand either as its a solo effort. There are inherent risks attached to being in the mountains in winter in the UK, getting lost, frostbite, hypothermia, trenchfoot and add to this cumulative effects of fatigue and lack of daylight during the duration I'll exposing myself to the elements (chortle). I hope I make it!!
I'm raising money for ABF The soldier's charity if you can spare a little bit of cash please do.
http://www.justgiving.com/mark-caldwell70 .
It usually takes 3 weeks in good conditions for a walker to complete the Pennine way. I aim to complete the race in 6 days or less running in the elite class. Strange there are only 3 people in my catagory and about 9 in the open catagory. The open guys are allowed 7 days to complete the race.
Not only is it a huge distance to travel on foot, it is being ran in JANUARY. I will have to carry all of my food, equipment, shelter and sleep system throughout the race. This is weighing in at around 12kg,, OH CRAP. As its a winter race it will be dark for 16 hours a day making navigation difficult. No-one will be hold holding my hand either as its a solo effort. There are inherent risks attached to being in the mountains in winter in the UK, getting lost, frostbite, hypothermia, trenchfoot and add to this cumulative effects of fatigue and lack of daylight during the duration I'll exposing myself to the elements (chortle). I hope I make it!!
I'm raising money for ABF The soldier's charity if you can spare a little bit of cash please do.
http://www.justgiving.com/mark-caldwell70 .
Monday 19 December 2011
First ever blog
What are you supposed to say in your first blog. I'm not sure, but lets start with Hi and thanks for dropping by. I didn't really know what to call it or what direction the Blog will take in the future but here we are. I will pad out with some stuff I have done before both running mountaineering and try brighten things up with the odd picture.
In the immediate future I have am entered in The Spine race, which is the full length of the Pennine Way, approximately 268 miles (431km). I've never raced anything like this distance before, let alone in the winter. sounds like a challenge eh? I think so.
So what makes me think I can do it, well I have spent allot of time running ultra marathons (33-95 miles) in the last few years, along side this I have also spent allot of time in the mountains of Scotland and to a much lesser extent in Europe, Canada and New Zealand. So combining a good level of fitness and my mountaineering experience = a mild confidence I can complete it. I hope I don't have my A's muddled up, AMBITION and ABILITY!!!
A nice crisp head torch run of 10 miles tonight on the Buchan line. Most of my recent training has been in the dark and off-road as I approach the Spine race. As the race is in January I will only have 7 - 8 hours of day light to travel in each day. The remainder of the time I'll be running, walking or crawling with a head torch and hopefully some moon light, fingers crossed on that though.
In the immediate future I have am entered in The Spine race, which is the full length of the Pennine Way, approximately 268 miles (431km). I've never raced anything like this distance before, let alone in the winter. sounds like a challenge eh? I think so.
So what makes me think I can do it, well I have spent allot of time running ultra marathons (33-95 miles) in the last few years, along side this I have also spent allot of time in the mountains of Scotland and to a much lesser extent in Europe, Canada and New Zealand. So combining a good level of fitness and my mountaineering experience = a mild confidence I can complete it. I hope I don't have my A's muddled up, AMBITION and ABILITY!!!
A nice crisp head torch run of 10 miles tonight on the Buchan line. Most of my recent training has been in the dark and off-road as I approach the Spine race. As the race is in January I will only have 7 - 8 hours of day light to travel in each day. The remainder of the time I'll be running, walking or crawling with a head torch and hopefully some moon light, fingers crossed on that though.
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