Eyes on the prize!

[marco83]

Good morning everybody! This post is more for me that for anybody else... but I hope you don't mind

First I hope you are all well and who likes running in the morning had a great run (for most of us it was probably in the rain so exercise, therapy and shower in the same time... and for free!!!). For the others enjoy your run in any other moment of today

This morning I almost gave up and stayed in bed... I was tired, cold and demotivated (why am I doing this again??? why should I get dressed and run 10 miles at 5 am in the morning while everybody else in the neighborhood is sleeping???) and then I remembered!

This month of July became pretty important in this year of personal record... After having reached the heaviest I have ever been (with 97 kilos!!!) and after having started again running consistently, I am now on a quest to make history (well may be it is a bit over the top, but it is going to mark an historic moment in my running log for a few weeks). This morning I was 38 (now 28) miles away from the 200 miles mark ran in a month (after having run 60 miles in the whole autumn last year and ~11 miles in the first week - 27/6 – 3/7 - of this month...) and giving up now, would be so much my old me...

I realized I need a bit a motivation to make it to the end of the month without giving up and I feel posting this here could give me the motivation I need (once it is out there, it is out there: I either make it (and celebrate) or fail it (and try another target )

So today 10 miles (check) tomorrow 10 miles and on Saturday the final long with 18 miles and I am there! I hope I'll make it and I'll keep you posted

Marco

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

Go Marco!

[ju-ju- Marathon]

brilliant... you are doing so welll.. and final push required as long as those distances are doable for you? Its a great goal to aim for. I am in a similar place aiming for 3,000 metres climbed in July... I am 81% there now but I am going to be doing 3 long runs also and aiming for alot of hill climbing. Lets spur each other on!!!

[marco83 Marathon in reply to ju-ju-]

deal

well done with your climbing

doable distance... well I have run a couple of marathons so I should in theory be able to cope with 18 miles, but it is the longest run since the beginning of May and probably the second longest after marathon in 2016 (I didn't prepare very well the marathon this year). I will try to go for it (new pair of shoes - with just 130 miles on them should help )

[JaySeeSkinny Half Marathon]

You'll manage it! That's the kind of mileage I manage in 6 months! I feel tired just thinking about it - but there's also a feeling of immense awe! Well done.

[marco83 Marathon]

10.4 done this morning (fairly quickly actually, in 1:21:00 averaging less than 7:50 min/mile ).

It turns out that, considering the decimals in my runs, I am only 16.5 miles away Another thing I didn't consider is that July has 31 days

It looks like tomorrow I am going to try the 18 miles anyway and see how it goes, but I am getting tired and if I have to give up tomorrow I can still get to my goal on Sunday

have a great day and thanks for been here

Marco

[Eatcakeandrun Marathon]

Wow Marco! That is a lot of miles. Well done, you sound very motivated, I can't imagine doing that kind of mileage.

[marco83 Marathon in reply to Eatcakeandrun]

I had no idea I could at the beginning of the month. Never done more than 5 days continuous training and my 1st week mileage was 11... then 35 and then it all started. I realized I was running obese and I am trying to change something..

I did have a plan with a lot of miles in, but I didn't think I could follow it... and I surprised myself

[marco83 Marathon]

This morning I went for it! I apologize to all if this post will look a bit cocky, do not read it if annoys you, I will not do it again, but today I have to celebrate (the running high

Yesterday I wasn't feeling great, the 10 miles faster than planned ran yesterday left the mark... my legs told me there was no chance I could run 18 miles: So I picked a course with an additional 0.6 miles on the 18, and decided not to listen to them! (of course they started to fight back the moment I stepped out of the door...

But I found the weirdest motivation ever: this 18 miler is less than 10% of this month's run, you have to do it! and at 6:10 am I was out running in the silence of the Saturday morning in Belfast...

It was very hard, harder than I thought... 1 hour in and my first gel was gone, water station (fountain) and keep going...

at the half marathon point (of course I looked up where it was ) I look at the time and you can imagine my surprise when I saw my 3rd time ever on the distance (1:43:30). I was very tired! I felt like I was in the last 6 miles of a mar... and I started to feel the pain. But this is the training! I took the second gel and I used everything to distract myself (yes even what to write here once back this website is actually helping me a lot

So 5 miles to go and 1 (the last) uphill... It felt I ran forever, but when I got home the time stopped at 2:24:00 ( pace at 7:46 per mile). 202 miles this month (with 1 day to spare!) current streak of 21 days and 175 miles counting and 73.4 miles in the last 7 days

runningahead.com/logs/ba66e...

So this is it, sorry for this very self focused post, but I want to say thanks to all for being here I really like this community! Please feel free to ask I will return the favour

have a great weekend!

Marco

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to marco83]

Amazing stuff! I did my first 18 miler a few weeks back and it took me... er.... quite a bit longer than that! Still, it was a very hilly route sounds like you have found an interesting way to push yourself.