Marathon Blog 5: My name is Jamie Flanagan... - Vasculitis UK

Vasculitis UK

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Marathon Blog 5

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My name is Jamie Flanagan. This year I'm going to be running in the Rome, Dundee and Berlin Marathon's raising money for Vasculitis UK. I am a Wegener's Granulomatosis patient and am looking forward to raising money and awareness to help beat this disease. There is a big announcement for 2013 in this blog, so keep reading! You can read more about me at my Just giving page's below:  

justgiving.com/Jamie-flanagan

A big thanks to everyone who has donated, you're in my thoughts during the runs!  

Here is blog number 5:  

11/03/2012 - 7 days to Roma race day! 

So, only 7 days till the first Marathon of 2012... It's been a long time coming and in some ways too long. My last marathon was way back in September and it feels like a long time ago! This is one of the reasons why I won't be waiting so long until the next one!! Nope, not Berlin... A far more glamorous city. A city of discovery... a city with plenty of wildlife... a city that is pretty close to my home town of Montrose! Dundee Running Adventure Marathon, or DRAM for short. I like the occasional short along with a pint so this marathon/dram seems like a good idea. After 26.2 miles I can't actually imagine a worse thing than a wee dram of whisky, but if needs must, I may take one for the team!

What else has been happening? Well, I've entered the Plymouth half marathon on the 3rd of June 2012. Not exactly the closest run to Inverness, but one I will be running with a friend that I met doing the Marathon du Medoc. She is running in the Bath half Marathon today so all the best to Sarah!

Training in the last week or so has been eventful and productive. In the lead up to a marathon distance run it is normal to shorten and decrease (taper) your running. For Rome I have done just that. In doing so I have neglected something – the need to carry certain things during my running sessions...

So, it had been a long day at work and I drove out to the majestic (wine), (no advert honestly) Culbin forest and embarked upon a 9 mile run taking in the beauty of nature. Making sure to set my starting point on my GPS watch, I bounced along listening to a recently acquired running music compilation album About 7 miles in I thought it was about time to start planning my way back, so hit the buttons on my faithful GPS to send me home. 36 miles it said!!! No, no, no... Thankfully I was sensible enough to pick up a map of the forest before I set off. Unfortunately this map turned out to be a map advertising another forest with what looks like an interesting route! As much as I was intrigued by this new jaunt, I was still wondering how I how I was going to get back to my car. This has now become a regular running route for me, so despite the failure of my GPS I was still confident of navigating my way back. The last marker post I seen was number 6 so all I needed to do was turn right at number 3. Simples I thought!

So boys and girls, this is why it is always important to carry spare batteries for a head torch!

Flick...

flick...

flick...

“Look how bright the moon is!”

“eek”

At this point I'd also began wishing I'd eaten a few more carrots this week! My eyes slowly adjusted to the moonlight and it was a slow trundle through the forest, but my memory served me well and made it back to the car. What did I learn from this? Never rely on compilation albums because it's not easy to skip tracks when it's pitch black!

Going to have a lazy week this week, but looking forward to going back to Rome, but this time with my running shoes. It's a beautiful city and the perfect place for a pasta party! Armed with my awesome bib number: 14455, I'm looking forward to a good run Look out for my post marathon musings soon..

Arrivederci!

PS. Photo is post head torch failure!

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John_Mills profile image
John_MillsVolunteer

Good luck in Rome Jamie. Great blog again :-) I am up at this early hour on a Sunday morning watching Winnie the Pooh with the grand daughter! :-) Will be looking out for the next blog? will the Rome run be televised? take care S :-)

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jimdrum in reply to John_Mills

Thanks Susan!

Rome will be broadcast on this link nearer the time:

la7.it/maratonadiroma/%20

I might be hard to spot though!

Mmmm, honey! :D