Okay, so January has come and gone. That will mean that at the time of writing, I have eight months left to get myself in a position to run the 87 miles from Marble Arch to Dover, swim the Channel and...well actually if I get that far I will definitely cycle the 180 miles from Calais to the Arc de Triomphe.
The main highlights were an inordinate amount of swimming - that will be a theme that will run throughout the next few months - and the Country to Capital 45 mile endurance run. Country to Capital is an event I do each year. It starts at Wendover, weaves its way through the countryside and some very posh areas of the Home Counties, before joining the London canal system which leads to the end at Little Venice. I normally do the run in about 8 hrs 20 to 8 hrs 30 minutes and I surprised myself this year by, once again, doing just that. I am always left feeling slightly cheated because I kid myself that I can do the event quicker were it not for an inevitable meltdown at some point along the course. This year it was just before the canal at Denholm. Last year I tried to pull out of the event at Checkpoint 2, 24 miles in. (I was ill that year). The first year I have no recollection of the last 5 miles at all as I drifted close to unconsciousness and was only pulled back from the brink thanks to vast amounts of midget gems and jelly babies force fed to me by my then new friend Richard. I have learnt a lot from meltdowns; the main thing being that no matter how godawful the crisis is, you will, given some food and a small rest, bounce back. It is this knowledge that has stopped me pulling out of many events on many occasions. Sermon over.
So, an okay month. My base fitness is good and the main challenge apart from a family and full time job is how to fit enough decent running in whilst concentrating on the inordinate amounts of swimming that I must do to cross the Channel.
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