Ok, well I've signed up for another marathon, this time it's only 5 months until I toe the line in the Medibank Melbourne Marathon. I'm hoping that the foundation of a couple of years of running will make the start of my training not quite as slow and difficult as it was the first time around.
Overall the Melbourne marathon will be more challenging than the VLM in 2011. Firstly, I'll be doing it alone. Last time I had the support of Jess running along side me the whole way, helping to distract me from my own thoughts and entertain with conversation. The nutritional side of things will not be easy either, because as it stands my organisation in matters of food preparation and forward thinking are slack at best. Finally, my body is always waiting to deliver little surprises like calf injuries, and I will need to manage this closely otherwise the marathon thing may just be finished before it begins.
These challenges are precisely why I've chosen to do it though. My nutrition needs to improve, I need a goal to motivate my running and I want to test my own mental resilience whe it comes to sticking with the training for the next 16 weeks or so. I will be looking to better my time from the VLM because I need to feel like I'm moving the challenge forward, but at the same time, it's not my focus. The course is a lot more difficult too. A long stint along the esplanade past St Kilda and Elwood which generally delivers a tasty head wind and is quite exposed to the weather. Then if that isn't bad enough, at the 30km mark I'll need to run up hill towards the finish line. The finish line will be inside the MCG which will be cool but it's highlymprobable that by that stage I won't care too much where the finish line is.
So, the journey has begun and I'm prepared to bore everyone with my running anecdotes. Luckily for everyone, there's no fundraising, no £2000 targets. So, happy days!
http://www.melbournemarathon.com.au/
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