May Marathon Madness
I've decided what I'm doing for my birthday next year. (It's only 7 months away, after all). And I'd like to issue an open invite to anyone who'll be around to join me for a few drinkies. I will explain.
It doesn't look like I'll be running FLM next year. My cheque hasn't been cashed. There's still a tiny outside chance that my cheque is being processed very slowly by my bank, or that I'll get my hands on a club or charity place (as long as it's one without stupid fund raising targets), but realistically the ballot was my best chance, and I don't think I was successful. There's no real surprise about that, I'll just have to wait another year or five for a chance.
But anyway, assuming none of that comes off, I've been thinking of what else I want to do instead. And I think that I have a plan. I've been dithering over whether I want to do a spring marathon at all or just leave it until autumn, but I've seen an option that is very very tempting.
I've been weighing up the logistics of various options for a while. Getting there and back, staying over, not having to work on the Monday. There are some races I'd happily take a day off work to recover from and do a bit of sightseeing on the Monday and others that maybe just aren't quite special enough for me to want to do that. If I'm going abroad then I'll happily take an extra day, but spending a Monday morning in Blackpool, for example, isn't as exciting. No offence to Blackpool, but I've spent far too much time there in the past for it to be a big draw now.
Then, out of nowhere, I spotted an advert for something that works nicely with the rest of my plans. It's on a bank holiday weekend, and it's somewhere where I'd quite like to spend a long weekend. It's not hard to get to, with fairly regular trains and it's driveable if I fancy doing it under my own steam. It's also a couple of days before my birthday, so I get to have a birthday weekend away. I've had a quick look and there are some nice looking, reasonably priced hotels available.
It looks perfect. Almost.
There are just two slight drawbacks. One is that entry is officially on a "ballot" basis. However, from a bit of background research on the RW website it seems that the race doesn't actually fill up, it's just that by advertising it as a ballot the charities can try to flog "guaranteed" charity places at a premium. The ballot closes pretty early too, so it's more of an early entry type thing than a genuine ballot. So if you go through the ballot you'll almost certainly get a place apparently. And I think (although it's not clear) that if I get my running club number through it's guaranteed entry for club members anyway.
The other drawback worries me slightly more. It would involve doing two marathons in two weeks. Gulp. I've applied to do the Moonwalk which is a walking marathon, and the one I'm looking at now is the week after that. I'm hoping that walking a marathon won't take too much out of my legs (and at least it will help me deal with the temptation to run too much during the taper!). I don't know whether I'll actually get a place in the Moonwalk anyway, I posted my entry but haven't heard anything. If I do, fingers crossed that walking the distance won't slow me down horribly the week after.
So, I can now announce that (subject to confirming the details and not being rejected by the "ballot") YP's European Marathon tour will be paying a visit to...
Now for the fun bit. I know that there are some Edinburgh girlies who check up on me every so often, so here's the plan. I'll probably come up on the Saturday and go back down south on the Monday (bank holiday). I won't really want to do much on the Saturday other than going to the expo, eating carbs and sleeping, but on the Sunday night I wouldn't say no to meeting up for a meal and a few drinks to celebrate (a) finishing and (b) my birthday, which is the Thursday of the following week. Of course, you may all have fantastic and exciting plans for the bank holiday weekend, in which case I will entertain myself without too many worries. It won't be anything too rowdy, but it would be lovely to see anyone who is around that weekend. (I'd be even more delighted if you stand along the course to cheer me on and hand me jelly babies, but that would just be greedy! Or even if you decide to join in!)
There are no firm plans yet, but if you're interested make a note of the date in your diary, let me know you're up for it and we can sort out the details closer to the time.
It doesn't look like I'll be running FLM next year. My cheque hasn't been cashed. There's still a tiny outside chance that my cheque is being processed very slowly by my bank, or that I'll get my hands on a club or charity place (as long as it's one without stupid fund raising targets), but realistically the ballot was my best chance, and I don't think I was successful. There's no real surprise about that, I'll just have to wait another year or five for a chance.
But anyway, assuming none of that comes off, I've been thinking of what else I want to do instead. And I think that I have a plan. I've been dithering over whether I want to do a spring marathon at all or just leave it until autumn, but I've seen an option that is very very tempting.
I've been weighing up the logistics of various options for a while. Getting there and back, staying over, not having to work on the Monday. There are some races I'd happily take a day off work to recover from and do a bit of sightseeing on the Monday and others that maybe just aren't quite special enough for me to want to do that. If I'm going abroad then I'll happily take an extra day, but spending a Monday morning in Blackpool, for example, isn't as exciting. No offence to Blackpool, but I've spent far too much time there in the past for it to be a big draw now.
Then, out of nowhere, I spotted an advert for something that works nicely with the rest of my plans. It's on a bank holiday weekend, and it's somewhere where I'd quite like to spend a long weekend. It's not hard to get to, with fairly regular trains and it's driveable if I fancy doing it under my own steam. It's also a couple of days before my birthday, so I get to have a birthday weekend away. I've had a quick look and there are some nice looking, reasonably priced hotels available.
It looks perfect. Almost.
There are just two slight drawbacks. One is that entry is officially on a "ballot" basis. However, from a bit of background research on the RW website it seems that the race doesn't actually fill up, it's just that by advertising it as a ballot the charities can try to flog "guaranteed" charity places at a premium. The ballot closes pretty early too, so it's more of an early entry type thing than a genuine ballot. So if you go through the ballot you'll almost certainly get a place apparently. And I think (although it's not clear) that if I get my running club number through it's guaranteed entry for club members anyway.
The other drawback worries me slightly more. It would involve doing two marathons in two weeks. Gulp. I've applied to do the Moonwalk which is a walking marathon, and the one I'm looking at now is the week after that. I'm hoping that walking a marathon won't take too much out of my legs (and at least it will help me deal with the temptation to run too much during the taper!). I don't know whether I'll actually get a place in the Moonwalk anyway, I posted my entry but haven't heard anything. If I do, fingers crossed that walking the distance won't slow me down horribly the week after.
So, I can now announce that (subject to confirming the details and not being rejected by the "ballot") YP's European Marathon tour will be paying a visit to...
EDINBURGH
on 27 MAY 2007
on 27 MAY 2007
Now for the fun bit. I know that there are some Edinburgh girlies who check up on me every so often, so here's the plan. I'll probably come up on the Saturday and go back down south on the Monday (bank holiday). I won't really want to do much on the Saturday other than going to the expo, eating carbs and sleeping, but on the Sunday night I wouldn't say no to meeting up for a meal and a few drinks to celebrate (a) finishing and (b) my birthday, which is the Thursday of the following week. Of course, you may all have fantastic and exciting plans for the bank holiday weekend, in which case I will entertain myself without too many worries. It won't be anything too rowdy, but it would be lovely to see anyone who is around that weekend. (I'd be even more delighted if you stand along the course to cheer me on and hand me jelly babies, but that would just be greedy! Or even if you decide to join in!)
There are no firm plans yet, but if you're interested make a note of the date in your diary, let me know you're up for it and we can sort out the details closer to the time.
posted by YP at 8:09 PM
3 Comments:
I'm definitely up for a meetup. I have NO plans for May next year - much too far ahead...
(That said, I've been vaguely wondering whether to try to get into a Hairy Haggis relay team for next year's marathon - you either get a 5K, 8K or a 10K slot, and the way things are going, I think I might be reliably able to do a shorter one.)
ooh lovely idea, i bet it's a nice scenic route through the city. i'd definitely be up for a meetup!
:)
Awww, would love to meet you and K, but I won't be back to Edinburgh until June- I'm going for the somewhat less adventurous 5K Race for Life.
Hope you have fun :D
Post a Comment
<< Home