Saturday was the Olympic Park run, a five mile run around the Olympic Park (the sharp ones among you probably figured out the location from the name of the run) finishing in the Olympic Stadium (yes, you guessed it the Olympic Stadium is located....in the Olympic Park, that's right - you're a clever bunch aren't you) with a lap of the track in front of 15,000 people and a sprint down the 100m track. I decided to run the race at my target marathon pace for some good race practice, well party for the practice and partly because I overdid it the night before and was feeling a little ropey and not really up for pushing six minutes miles. I can only blame myself, no...wait.... actually I can blame Mitan and his impromptu cocktail mixing in Roka! I have to hand it to him though, the self named Patel is a work of genius, anything that can smell and taste that good at first sip and then blow your head off once downed is a sterling piece of cocktailery (I think the correct word is mixology but I'm sure you all agree that my word is much more fun). A finish time of 35:08 put me only a couple of seconds a mile off my target seven minute mile pace so feeling pretty comfortable with my ability to pace myself in race conditions (and my ability to run on a stinking hangover).
Sunday was time for one of the last big runs before the first marathon, a gruelling 21 miler, again after another night on the town! Living only a mile and a half from the start line of the London marathon means that I can follow the marathon route and get a really good feel for the route ahead of race day. Unfortunately I ate far too much before leaving the house and spent the first couple of miles trying to keep my breakfast down (which I am happy to report was a success, although a challenge in itself!). At the start line I spotted a couple of guys who looked to be taking the run they were about to start pretty seriously. They passed me after a couple of miles at which point my competitive nature kicked in and I picked the pace up and decided to stick with them. Turns out it's a little weird to run right behind complete strangers when you're not in a proper race! Anyway they had exactly the same idea as me and were running the marathon route ahead of the big day (with much more preparation and support than me, but a lot less alcohol in the system for fuel which evens things out a bit I think). What followed was an epic 21 mile race with the lead changing hands several times and a blatant act of cheating when the two mystery runners took a short cut to avoid some roadworks, snatching the lead back with only a matter of miles to go. The last few miles must have been the most exciting race that the Isle of Dogs has seen in years, I was closing on them but was it quick enough! In the end, after 21 miles of blood (literally - found it in my shoe when I got home), sweat (again literally - but a little less surprising) and tears (not literally but it completes the sentence so let's go with it) the race finished in a dead heat. Unfortunately without a camera for a photo finish (or a finish line for that matter) I can't be certain but I could tell from the look in their eyes afterwards that they knew I was the real winner of the day. So an entertaining 21 miles in 2hrs 46mins with plenty left in the tank which bodes well for a sub 3:30 marathon, not sure I'll quite get down to the 3:15 I had been hoping for but you never know on the day...
With a new gym workout added to the routine I spent some time this week in the gym reminiscing about some of the funnier things that have either happened to me or that I've seen while in the gym. I thought I'd share a few with you over the next few weeks.
I'll start this week with my #1 most embarrassing gym moment would have to be my first attempt at a class called Body Pump. I was at Uni at the time and had spent the whole summer getting in pretty good shape. I'd done the same the previous year and then lost it all within the first day and a half of freshers week so this year I was determined to keep the fitness up at least until the end of the first week of partying. So, Body Pump sounded like just the trick and when I arrived to find out that I was the only bloke surrounded by a group of very attractive female students I have to admit I wasn't overly upset. In fact I thought it would be a great opportunity to show off a little and despite the protests of the instructor with a rather hefty amount of weight I was all set to do some serious impressing! What I didn't realize was that Body Pump is essentially performing a lot of light weight reps to high tempo music, so after about 15 or 20 reps I was pretty much done and had to be helped out from under aforementioned hefty weight by a couple of aforementioned attractive female students. Epic fail? I think so! Did I go back? I think not! WHAT A CLOWN!
Another episode of Fraz's embarrassing exercising escapades to follow next week...
Yet again, a massive thank you to everyone who has made a donation! The grand total now stands at £2,960.00, only 40 quid of an archer and a half, or three bags of sand if you prefer your cockney rhyming slang ;-)
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