Temporary loss of sanity...

Okay, something strange happened today. I lost the plot for about an hour and when I returned to earth I discovered I had entered the Edinburgh Marathon. How did that happen?!

I have been umming and ahhing about a marathon for weeks and I finally plucked up the courage to enter. It's not until the end of May so I have plenty of time to train and as my mum said to me I can always stop. Yeah right, like I am going to do that! I am doing it really in the hope that I can get under 3:45 and get a Good For Age place in London 2010. My predicted time at the moment is 3:35. With the right training, maybe... There are lots of people at run club who have done marathons so I am sure that I will get the best and right advice from them.

My cheque has been cashed for Brass Monkey so I'm in for that which is fantastic. I have also entered Leeds 10k this week although it may be a little too soon after the marathon to really do well. However, it is for charity and I just have to do it. So I have a long list of races to do in the next few months (still waiting for Dewsbury 10k and Wakefield 10k to come online) and now I also have a marathon to train for. Having a brief look at schedules, I have to increase my long run and try to do one longer run during the week too. I think I will have to tie that in to run club as I can't see any other way to fit in looking after Little Madam.

My training is still going in the right direction despite my cold refusing to go. I have had a 35 mile week including running twice on Thursday which I haven't done for ages and really enjoyed. My long run was 13 miles today and I took a different route for some variety. I hate running where there are no footpaths, but luckily it was early and the roads were fairly quiet. This week is half term so most of my training will be gym based although I should be at run club on Tuesday and on Thursday I might be able to run near to my parents'. Then 10 mile race on Sunday. Watching Paula finish The Great South Run in 50 mins today and the fastest man finishing in faster than my 10k time was great although my predicted 1:20-1:25 looks like snail's pace compared to their times!

I am also having a disaster with my Garmin. It seems to have developed an electrical fault and won't start up unless it's in the cradle. It is also switching itself off if I knock it at all which is not good. I am taking it back tomorrow and I hope that they will just swap it as it is only 6 months old.

Right, off to read some more about this madness I seem to have developed.... :)

Update...

I am really rubbish at keeping up to this at the moment...

I was really sensible in my training following the half marathon and that makes a change for me. I have been working hard though and building my distance back up. For the last three weeks I have been doing 30+ miles through 5 days of training each week. I am trying to do one long run, one interval session, one faster/tempo run and two other runs on which I have tried to include some hills including Stonegate Road a few times now it doesn't scare me anymore!

My long runs have taken a while to build back up, but I managed 13 miles last Sunday and am going to try to do the same again tomorrow. I do have a cold at the moment though which has decided to settle on my chest so I will not be pushing myself too hard.

Today I did the Hyde Park Time Trial for the first time since April. I have been meaning to do it for weeks, but it means getting up at 7 to be on the bus by 8 to get there in time which on a Saturday morning is not always possible. Also I have usually had little madam on a Saturday for the last few weeks. Today I had her too, but she didn't want to run it so she sat under a tree near the finish line where the stewards were there if there was a problem. It was nice to see a few people from run club doing it too because I have only managed to get down there once since my race (if it's raining it's so much easier to run round here and go in and get warm and dry rather than waiting for the bus home). I also saw a boy I used to teach doing the run with his mum which was nice too. I was aiming for around 21 mins, but when I set my Garmin up it told me that would be 6:46 min mile pace, which I felt was a bit too quick, but I thought I would give it a go anyway. The pace was way too quick for me, so I had to slow it a bit. My breathing was not good and my inhaler didn't give me the boost it normally does at the start. Still I managed to keep going and didn't feel too bad until about 1km from the end when I just found it was too much and I could hardly breathe at all. One of the guys from run club ran alongside and gave me words of encouragement, which was lovely. I managed to finish and my time was 22:27 which is one minute off my last time. I was also the second woman to finish which was amazing! Unfortunately my details are still not registered to my club so I appear as unattached. I am hoping that they can update this so my run can be credited to the club and they can have the points. The last time I did this race was not long after Wakefield 10k where my pb currently resides, so I am still keeping my fingers crossed for my sub 45 at Abbey Dash.

I have got my list of races sorted out for the next few months anyway and my next one is Guy Fawkes 10 mile which I am not going to race race, but enjoy (and especially enjoy the huge quantities of chocolate that I have been told is in the goody bags...). I have also got my entry in for Brass Monkey which sells out within a couple of days, but the entry forms only went on their site today and our run club got some early forms which I filled in and sent off yesterday so fingers crossed I will get a place. There are still a couple of races in February and April that I am waiting to come online.

I have been seriously considering doing a marathon as well although I am not sure which one yet. My predicted time for a marathon is 3:35 which if I could do anything like would allow me to have a good for age (anything between 3:15 and 3:45 would get me this) place in London 2010 which I would love to do. I have never considered myself to be good enough to be able to do anything like a marathon before, but I think if I can get my long runs in by putting Little Madam into aftercare at work and making the most of my free weekend day I might be able to do it. I've said it now - does that mean I HAVE to do it????!