Anyway, here’s what Mo had to say after the race:
“I saw with 100m to go he was there but my legs just couldn’t give me any more,” said Farah. “I thought I had the speed to win the race. I ran a 53-second final lap and I gave it 110% but it just wasn’t enough.”

When asked if he had sprinted for home too early, Farah added: “I don’t think so. Not really. The better man won on the day – great credit to him. I always wanted to go with 500metres, 400metres to go. That’s my best tactic.” (Source: Guardian.co.uk)

On the other end of the running spectrum, and of course spurred on by my fellow countryman’s exceptional effort on the other side of the world, I went out for a run myself. Now, I’m conscious I’ve effectively taken three or four weeks off and frankly was scared of what might happen if I ran long again without any build up. Chatting to Nick S from the club the other day, he was boosting my confidence by suggesting that the stamina and the strength is there and won’t just disappear in such a short time. I was hoping he was right.

I decided to ignore the marathon schedule this weekend and head out for a 20 miler, just to see if I could still hack the big miles. It’s been weeks since I ran anything like this long and it was always going to hurt.

I went off for the first few miles at a comfortable pace and felt ok. By 6 it was really starting to hurt. Everything below the waist was aching, not a good start and barely over the quarter distance mark.

A brief but torrential shower on the way towards Macclesfield did nothing to lighten my spirits. At least the lack of anything but a single layer meant I dried out pretty quickly. Turn around, head back to the start and I should hit about 13 miles, just another seven.

At 12 miles a realised I was on for a good time. In fact I was on for breaking my Wilmslow Half time. That’s my PB for 13.1 miles at 1h36m30s. It’d take a little bit of a push to do it, but I gave it a go and crossed the 13.1 mile point at 1h33m54s.

Now obviously my annual venture north for the Great North Run is fast approaching and I am keen to see what I could do over a half marathon distance by then. I think it’s about time to start taking bets on my time. Anyone care to throw their predictions into the mix? I’ll find a plugin for the blog and we’ll get your guesses set in digital stone prior to the event…

Having set a good time for the first 13, the latter 7 hurt way more than was ever needed. As I finished and stopped running my legs gave way a little and I nearly fell over. Walking suddenly felt wholly unnatural!

I ache a lot now. Not sure I really want to say it, but more tomorrow is inevitable!

Andy.

Today’s shoes: Silver/Yellow Kayano 17s
Miles today: 20.00
Target: 1026
Miles to date: 1523.03
“You only get to negatively affect your DNA.”
Manciata’s explanation for why some people can’t run a marathon.

Current moaning and whinging centres upon the quads and more generally the legs. The ankles are a bit funny at the moment, but I think the body is dealing well considering the significant increase in mileage over the last fortnight.

I’ve also realised something quite scary. My guidance for my marathon schedule (which hails from the marathoner’s bible ‘Advanced Marathoning’) is 18 weeks long. I’ve just turned to the calendar and added each reminder in for the weekly countdown and something surprising happened. 17 weeks to go i.e. the day I start the 18 week training program is only a week on MONDAY! Oops.

Total mileage anticipated for this week: 33+ miles

Proposed Marathon Training Schedule Outline…

Scary eh!

To Parkrun or not to Parkrun. That is the question!

Andy.

Today’s shoes: The newer pair of Kayano 17′s
Miles today: 3.01
Target: 747
Miles to date: 961.06
“When the sun is shining I can do anything; no mountain is too high, no trouble too difficult to overcome.”
- Wilma Rudolph

Last night I woke up every two hours, doubled up with abdominal pain. No doubt that was the result of the preventative medicine I’d had to take in the morning just before the marathon and I had a thoroughly terrible night’s sleep. I’m still suffering now, 36 hours later. Being this worn out and then getting very little sleep leaves you in a horrible state the next day and I feel truly shocking today! Add to this the neck and shoulder are still not right, I still feel stiff and they ache constantly, my stomach is tied in knots, the abdominal pain persists and you have the recipe for a terrible run.

Today’s run was really tough. My legs weren’t up for it and it hurt all the way to three miles. I managed to keep just over a nine min/mile pace somehow, but not without pushing through some serious pain. Even the act of stopping myself running to walk after I’d hit 3 miles hurt in my thighs, but I was pleased to find that the stiffness in my calves and thighs had eased a little in the post run shower.

And now for the full Brighton Marathon race report…

It’s been a long build up to today. This is the big one. The truly long run of the challenge year’s calendar.

Brighton hosted it’s second marathon today and along with a good few other runners I know, I lined up at the start to see Steve Cram fire the pistol and set us all on our not-so-merry way, 26.2 miles shy of the finish line.

I’m here today to compete in a marathon, though there isn’t a single person in the field I’m actually competing against. I’m here to beat myself. Break my PB. Even that’s a bit of a misnomer really, having only run one marathon before (and that was Brighton last year). The time to beat is 4h41. It went sort of like this…

07:00 Against all the rules and all of the advice I tuck into a bowl of cornflakes, a full english and a large pot of strong coffee. How bad can it be?

07:15 Off we go to Preston Park. The barriers are up, the marshalls are out, there’s a buzz about Brighton this morning.

07:30 Time for the Imodium to combat the adverse effects of anti-inflammatory pills. This is not going to be a good day!

08:00 There appear to be a sea of runners making their way up to Preston Park for the 2011 Brighton marathon. It’s a hilly challenge in parts and many are here sporting t-shirts advertising they’re return competitors from last year, as is your’s truly. Damian and I find James and our official photographer does a great job of capturing the moment. James appears to be sporting a knee support and receives intense interrogation on the subject. Turns out he’s still as crazy as he ever was and is planning to run his three heroic events this week on said dodgy knee!

08:15 Whilst discussing target finishing times I show my 3h30m target finishing time wrist band on my right wrist and my back stop 3h40m timing band on my left. Damian says that breaking 3h30m will qualify me for the Boston marathon. It’s unanimously agreed that Boston would be a great place to go, so I agree that my target is now to break 3h30! I text my brother and tell him that 12:30-13:00 finish is no longer the target, he should be at the finish line from 12:15, I’m feeling good this morning. Frankly all of this is pie in the sky at this point. I have no real basis upon which to claim I could run sub 3h30.

08:30 Damian and I wander off to the back pen discussing his plan for the run, making sure he’s comfortable with everything and on the way I spot Heather, a lady who volunteered with me on a Sense holiday a couple of years back. Damian tells me I know too many people!

08:45 I wished Damian the best of luck and headed down to the blue pen, just behind the club runners and elites. In the pen I meet a guy called Sacha who is running for Sense. Nice bloke, we had an interesting chat about what Sense do, the 1095miles challenge and his running career too.

The Front Runners at the Start

09:00 Bang, the gun goes. We’re stationary for an awfully long time. Then I hear the PA announce that the 3h30 pacer has just passed under the gantry. He’s some way ahead of me so I resolve to catch him up, but not before a good 15 or 16 miles at least. We’re off. This is exciting. I click into an 8 min/mile pace from the start, only slowed a little by the large proportion of the field who seem surprised by the hill after the first bend!

Another 'Where's Andy?' Competition

The Guys at Saucony Clearly have a Sense of Humour

What little time I’d lost on the way up the hill (to the highest point on the course!) was quickly regained on the way back down. As I passed by the Start line for the second time, I spotted Damian still walking towards the start. I shouted over to him and he replied “Run faster!”

Settled in my pace, the next few miles went really nicely. I’d set the Garmin to ping every half mile and update me on my average pace for that section. If you click through to the Garmin map for yesterday’s post, you’ll see just how consistently I managed to hit my target 8min/mile pace (look at the lap splits).

After about 5 miles I met another Sense runner whose name has sadly slipped my mind. We had a brief chat and on I went. I caught up with Heather on the way back down to St. Dunstan’s and wished her luck before she told me to get going and let her know how I did at the end. At 10 miles I saw Damian again. He’d have been at about 6 miles I guess and he looked like he was enjoying it. Once again, more “Run faster you slow coach” type banter came my way.

I crossed the half way point at about 1h42m. That’s only 6 minutes shy of my half marathon PB so I was a little concerned I may have gone out too quick in the first half. I finally saw the 3h30m pacer in front of me at around 15.5 miles and caught him up by mile 16. I had a chat with him about how he was pacing the miles and he seemed to think I was looking good for finishing it at this pace, mainly due to the fact that I looked ok and wasn’t really feeling it yet. We compared stop watch times and I jokingly said it was so I could work out exactly how far I could let him get ahead of me at the finish! I carried on creeping ahead of the pacer and met a guy called Kris who was keeping an eye on, and trying to keep ahead of the pacer I’d just been speaking to.

Kris and I ran and chatted for the next nine miles. This was a really good thing for me and I think for Kris too. At least four miles just seemed to pass without notice and even the tougher later miles were made somewhat easier as we shared the odd joke, often about how we kept looking back for the 3h30 pacer, and discussed why we had chosen to support the Charities we were both running for. At 24 miles or so, Kris was looking much stronger than me for the finish so I wished him luck and off he went at one hell of a rate! Nice to meet you Kris.

Then my ankle went a bit wobbly. The same left ankle that plagued me all those weeks ago. I plodded on for the last mile trying my best not to twist it unnecessarily and slowed down a bit for the last half a mile. I really had no clue what time I’d run, only that Mr 3h30m Pacer was behind me so I knew I’d broken the revised target!

Moments Before I Smashed the 3h30 Target!

Crossing the Line in Under 3h30m!

Wearing my Post Marathon BacoFoil

I'm Smiling Because I Know it's a Fast Time!

I found out moments later that I had crossed the line in a chip time of 3 hours 25 minutes and 38 seconds (PB). That’s an hour and sixteen minutes off last year

My brother had assumed the faster target finsih time was just bravado and missed me crossing the line by about 5 minutes!

We headed back to the hotel and I showered. Met my brother and had a quick beer, then dashed out to try and spot Damian coming in. I’d expected him at around 4h50m, given the 21 degrees predicted (And I’m very sure it was 21 degrees!) but he was nowhere to be seen. I did spot Keith though, coming in to claim a superb 4h57m. Very well done mate! I even got a photo.

Keith!

Having decided we’d missed Damian, we began to walk towards the pub that was planned as the venue for post marathon celebrations, with a workmate of mine Sam whose wife Megan had run the event too. As we walked along, there he was! We shouted over, but he’d put the dreaded headphones in and couldn’t hear us. I’ll let Damian blog the story for himself and save the punchline for him to reveal…

And speaking of Damian. It turns out that the qualification time for Boston is 3h05m. Well done buddy, you got me to break 3h30m, even though you were wrong!

Damian and I have agreed to have a go at beating our PB’s in Chester in October.

I said if I ran a marathon in under 3h50m I’d call myself a runner. Done!

Oh, and I’ve redeemed my priority entry for 2012 already. I’m in!

Andy.

Today’s shoes: Newish Kayano 17′s
Miles today: 3.00
Target: 609
Miles to date: 794.33
“You also need to look back, not just at the people who are running behind you but especially at those who don’t run and never will… those who run but don’t race…those who started training for a race but didn’t carry through…those who got to the starting line but didn’t cross the finish line…those who once raced better than you but no longer run at all. You’re still here. Take pride in wherever you finish. Look at all the people you’ve outlasted.”
- Joe Henderson

Laura intervened today though, getting up before me, taking Mini and Uma and locking them in the kitchen so they wouldn’t disturb and then getting back into bed silently… I ended up sleeping through til 9am in old money or 10 with the new time.

I eventually went out at around noon to find a glorious summer’s day… and despite being a little tight early doors, things got better as the run went on and I spent a good 15 minutes stretching at the end of it. Hopefully, it’s a first step to recovery from the dose of shin splints that is brewing.

Click here for a Google Map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 570
Miles to date: 747.07

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

I swear there was a time, maybe ten or 15 years ago, where doing any kind of exercise, never mind a big challenge was kind of frowned upon. It seems like it used to be that instead of counting the miles you ran, the number of pints you drank was your badge of honour.

I’m not sure where the change came from – these days it seems everyone is at the gym or racing a 5k or half marathon – but I suspect it came over from the States. While the Midwest may still have its fair share of dumplings, New York and LA have always been terribly body conscious. And over the past few years, people have taken it one further by raising cash for charity at the same time.

Whatever the reason, Greece, where I was brought up and where my mum still lives, is still pretty much behind the UK when it comes to this kind of thing. Sure people go to the gym and they don’t drink loads but you hardly ever see anyone out just pounding the streets simply because they enjoy running. And no one does extreme events for charity.

I was telling George, my Greek brother-in-law about the Portsmouth Half Marathon the other day and how some runners had mates located around the race who would pass them a bottle of water or a banana. He said: ‘In Greece, your mates would be passing you a cup of espresso and a fag’ – and he was only half joking.

So trying to explain to my mum what I’ve been doing for the last six months has all been a bit of challenge. She’s 75 bless her and not lived in England for more than 35 years so the idea of running for fun, running loads and raising money for charity by running are alien ideas.

She gets that I’m running a lot… but that’s about it. I was telling her about Sunday’s half-marathon yesterday and the conversation went something like this:

‘So mum, I ran this half marathon.’
‘What’s that?’
‘It’s a race, like a marathon but half the distance.’
‘So it’s not a marathon?’
‘No mum, that’s why it’s called a half marathon.’
‘So did you win?’
‘No, I came 174th’
‘It sounds like you had no chance of winning.’
‘I didn’t’
‘So why do it?’
‘For fun, to take part, to see how good I am.’
‘Trelos.’ (it means crazy)

A bit of silence followed where I think neither of us knew where to take the running conversation. And then she came back with:

‘So, with all this running, will you be training for the London Olympics?’

Bless her, she really did think I had a chance of running in the Olympics, despite the fact I’m 42, have been running seriously for less than a year and have knackered legs.’

You’ve got to love mums, they always think their kids are the best.

Miles today: 3
Target: 564
Miles to date: 741.07

Click here for a Google Map and full details of the day’s run

Today I managed to run a mountain or two all from a treadmill in central London.

It wasn’t just that the treadmill was set to rolling hills either – thanks to my pal Ben, I got the chance today to run in the hypoxic chamber at posh Soho gym, The Third Space.

The chamber, a small glass fronted room over looking the rest of the gym, has a special unit in it that depletes the oxygen levels to mimic training at 8,500ft (2,600m) and is the place where the Comic Relief lot did a bunch of their training before attempting to climb Kilimanjaro last year.

While a severe case of hypoxia will clearly kill you, training at oxygen levels that are similar to that of a high altitude is said to have great benefits as it forces your cardio-respiratory systems to work  harder to deliver sufficient oxygen to your working muscles, resulting in a harder workout.

The body is also said to adapt to the reduced oxygen by stimulating the production of a hormone called Erythropoietin (EPO), which in turn leads to an increase in the level of haemoglobin and red blood cells (those that carry the oxygen). All in all, it’s considered to be the equivalent of fine tuning a car.

On a practical level we did a five minute warm up before a half hour running programme on the treadmill and before we’d even started the serious stuff, I was doing some serious sweating. The first thing you notice when you start to run is a slight tightness in the chest as the lungs try to adapt to the new oxygen levels before you begin to feel a little light headed.

The hills programme made things even worse: starting on a level, every couple of minutes or so, your treadmill incline increases – and it was somewhere around here that Ben suddenly decided it was time to take some pictures (which should be on here soon).

Have a look at the link to my run details below and see how my heart rate changed on the hilly parts, at some points I was touching 174 beats per minute. Given I normally run at about 150bpm, you can tell the kind of workout I was getting.

By the end of the run, I certainly knew I’d been in a tougher workout, dripping with sweat and with my head ringing from the blood pumping up to it. You also feel even more light headed when you come out of the chamber and back to normal oxygen levels.

Now if only I could afford The Third Space’s monthly rates…

Click here for full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3.42
Target: 543
Miles to date: 709.98

Want to dedicate a run to someone or have one dedicated to you? Click here

This morning’s run wasn’t that bad but I’ve stiffened right up since so I’ve spent much of the day trying to find things to gee myself (not to mention cheer myself) up for the next few weeks before the Brighton Marathon and, indeed, for the next six months until the challenge is over.

One of the things I’ve been thinking of for a while is introducing a charity element to my running –  if I’m suffering, then someone else might as well gain – and I’m thinking of splitting the proceeds between two different charities. I should, hopefully, be able to launch that next week.

I’ve also decided to try and promote the site more so I’ve had some running shirts printed with 1095miles.com related information on them.

I’ll be wearing them most days when they come in – especially on my longer runs – but I’m also running the Water of Life half marathon in three Sunday’s time at Bisham Abbey and I’m hoping wearing one of the shirts might get some of the other runners to have a look at what I’m up to.

Finally, I’ve also dropped the editor of Runner’s World a little note – just to see if he wants to do anything on the site.

I’m hoping it will all help me keep focussed through the current injury laden blip.

Click here for a Google Map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 498
Miles to date: 631.36

Want to dedicate a run to someone or have one dedicated to you? Click here

I’d not made it the gym at all this week so decided to run there and back, happily, in another case of running serendipity, it’s about 1.47 miles to the gym…

Click here for a Google Map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3.00
Target: 477
Miles to date: 615.19

Want to dedicate a run to someone or have one dedicated to you? Click here

If anyone has any more suggestions, please leave a comment below or email me by clicking here.

For this morning’s run I did a nice easy amble on London Road through Norbury – the first time I’ve had energy for a run all week and the least my legs have ached. I can only conclude that running 15 miles last Sunday less than 18 hours after getting off a flight from America can’t have been that good an idea.

I’m getting quite excited about tomorrow now… my first big race since I did the Athens half marathon at 17 – that’s 25 years! Now get me inspired! Suggest a song.

Click here for a Google Map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 462
Miles to date: 590.32

Want to dedicate a run to someone or have one dedicated to you? Click here

For 13.2miles or around 2-2.5 hours, I’m going to need some inspiration for my iPod playlist, so please, if you have a great suggestion, leave a comment below or email me by clicking here.

In order to look smart, I’ve gone and got some new kit ready for the race and tried it out today. Aside from the worrying fact that my legs are still tight from Sunday’s 15 miler, I can conclude the following.

1. New Adidas running shirt – absolutely fine, no problems at all – made with Climalite materials to cool you down.

2. New Asics GT 2150 trainers – these have inbuilt support to stop by ankles from turning when I run. My old trainers (GT 2140) did a good 550 miles and its around this point the support tends to go… a return to turning in the old trainers could be the cause of my leg ache this week. The GT2150 are simply the new generation GT2140s so there was not much difference. the

3. Given it’ll probably be cold at the weekend by sea, I decided to invest in a new base layer by Skins. Despite getting a large size, I almost felt like I was being asphyxiated. I’ll probably revert to my old Adidas one to keep warm (which, despite being a medium, is much more comfortable).

4. New New Balance shorts. Again fine, although they bunch a little around the privates which could lead to chafing. Extra vaseline or old shorts could be in order.

Finally I also tried a carb gel for the first time. These are supposed to give you energy as you go but as you have to drink half  a litre of water with them, you still end up running with a bottle. I think I’ll stick to a bottle of Lucazade Sport when I run Sunday. They tasted bloody awful anyway, so I’m not too fussed with not using them.

Click here for a Google Map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 459
Miles to date: 587.32

Want to dedicate a run to someone or have one dedicated to you? Click here