Last month’s instalment of Run Reece Run reported on the
intervention of gremlins in my training programme. However, I am pleased to report the gremlins have
failed to stem my progress in my fundraising efforts. A surge over the last week has taken me
beyond £900 and I am almost half way to my target of £2000. As ever, I am greatly appreciative of the
donations made to The Outward Bound
Trust, whether through my fundraising site http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JohnReece or through offline payments that I can list on
a sponsorship form.
A reminder that February’s instalment, “Reece goes
outward bound” provided further details about the Trust:
In closing last month’s instalment, I pointed out that
March would mark a high point in my preparation for the London Marathon and the
month opened with a new experience for me as I took on the Nuts Challenge! For this
event I joined a team of colleagues from Rivers Academy in fundraising for the
Shooting Star Chase.
The event certainly enabled me to scale new heights…
But sometimes get stuck in the mud…
The event was certainly tiring…
And at times left me a little off balance…
While I didn’t hit the wall, other obstacles took their toll…
But at the end, despite everything, I still managed to
raise a smile…!
At 2.5 hours that was certainly the slowest 7KM I can
ever remember doing but definitely one of the most memorable. However, there wasn’t much time for rest
afterwards as by the next day I resumed normal marathon training with the
completion of 13 miles on more regular terrain!
A week after the Nuts Challenge, I feared the gremlins
had struck again. This was during a
planned 17 mile solo run and this time they took on a more physical guise! From about mile 4 I’d felt one of those
niggles that I feel I have to carry on through (if I stopped for all those
sorts of niggles, I’d never make it down the stairs in the morning!). This
continued but was little more than a distraction until between mile 11 and 12 I
found my movement increasingly restricted.
At 12.6 miles, having found myself slowing from sub 9 minute mile pace
to about 11 minute mile pace, I concluded that I had to abandon the run. Probably unwisely I tried running the
following day but about 5 miles in to a 6 mile route I again felt that I had to
stop. With experience of groin strains
on a couple of previous occasions over the years, I really feared that my marathon plans were
well and truly scuppered! Thankfully
things seemed reasonably OK on runs I completed on Wednesday and Friday of that
week (both about 5 miles with one involving hills) and on the following Sunday
I had made it to the start line of the Spitfire 20 (a 20 mile race which
includes the track used for some of BBC’s Top Gear test drives). With the challenge of a number of spiteful
hills to overcome (twice as the race is two laps of a 10 mile route) the fact
that the assorted aches and pains I had at the end (which were not
insignificant!) did not include the groin problem of the previous week was
taken by me to be a very positive sign.
Though my time of 3h06m was about 10 minutes more than I had originally
hoped for (before I knew about the hills!), by the evening I was feeling pretty
emotional that I’d managed to complete the course intact. It was also absolutely amazing to be part of
a joint achievement as a number of friends from the Bearcat Running Club also
competed in the event and we all had successful outcomes. For all of us this was a key point in our
marathon journeys.
With my injury scare in mind I am now looking to
additional measures to ensure I am in the best possible shape for the London
Marathon. After the Spitfire 20 this
included my first cold water bath – even after my cold water experience at the Nuts
Challenge, this came as a bit of a shock...!
To come right up to date, today (Sunday 23rd March 2014) I competed in the
Richmond Half Marathon. With my
training, my cold bath regime and my success to date in a commitment made two
weeks ago to avoid alcohol until after the marathon - on the morning of the
event I felt something special was in order.
I set out faster than I intended but I amazed myself by keeping the
pace up throughout and even managed to finish faster than I started. I’m still waiting for the official chip time
but my watch tells me I finished in a time of 1h44m03s. That is over two
minutes faster than my previous best!
Again it was great to enjoy the moment with friends from the Bearcat
Club.
Look out for me on live TV on 13th April -
LONDON HERE I COME!!!
