Posts
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Ran a 7 mile course today as part of Prevea training runs. I had initally planned to run 12 miles with the group training for full Cellcom Marathon, but the bitter cold (7 degrees F) changed my mind. I have to admit once the run started I felt quite good. Of course you have to deal with some skidding on ice and eyelashes sticking to each other due to ice. The training runs are very well supported by water, Gatorade during the course and Coffee with bagels at the finish. Achieved a landmark today click here.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
I have been struggling with a delimma, which now is resolved. For a few days I contemplated running The North Pole Marathon, yes on the North Pole, 90 degrees North, the only marathon run entirely on water. The temptation was to be part of multinational representation in the centenial year of first ever exploration to North Pole. Better sense has pervailed, I am not running the treacherous path, this adventure is for some other year and for now I plan to stick to my initial goal of running a marathon in each continent. The next Marathon would be in Sydney, Australia, on 20th September. This would be followed by Chicago Marathon, on 14th October. And then if I still have it my legs will attempt the Ice Marathon, Antarctica, on 14th December. This leaves me with spring and summer to train, "get better". Much of the training will be working on speed, and learning to run efficent runs. I will do some races including the Cellcom Half marathon, in Green Bay and the Bellin Run (10 K). I think this schedule should keep me motivated for the year.
Finish time 4:46 hrs 
s mountains. Planning for the run I had not envisioned such a beautiful sight. I had not recovered from the cold, and every now and then coughed, hoping that it would not be an issue during the run. The start was on time at 8.00 am, few thousand runners, common start for Full and Half Marthoners, it seemed almost every second runner was French. The first few miles were a gentle downslope, a run towards the International airport and then a swing towards the Atlas mountains, the initial jitters seemed to be gone and I settled into the run. I have to admit that I did'nt feel as strong in the first half , as I would have liked too, probably the effect of the cold, I was recovering from. The long sleeve Sport Hill top was perfect. I wore gloves, at least I had opted for the right gear. Getting through the half mark I knew that second half was goin
g to be tough. The course is well planned, we ran through some very varied neighbourhoods. There was some feel of running in Africa, camels and a small patch were I got a feel of running in a desert. Crowd support was good, traffic crossings were very well manned by the local police. Water stations were well stocked. The last miles were hard, made only tough by a gentle incline towards finish, there was a gentle drizzle and a winds to tackle, I have to say I was glad to cross the finish line........ 3 down, ....4 more to go.