28 Dec 2011

Dubai!!


I have been away for the last 2 weeks in Dubai!!

What a city! If you haven't been before it's worth it for the experience :-)



We did a home exchange so were very lucky to stay in a large villa right by a swimming pool!

You may be wondering what this has to do with running.....well I did do a little running while there in the heat just in case Madrid is hot for the marathon.


Also I am considering very seriously running Dubai Marathon in January 2013 :-)

Three reasons:- I need to find a marathon early 2013 anyway, I LOVE DUBAI, and January has big sales in the shops :-)


11 Dec 2011

Start Number Rock 'n' Roll Madrid Marathon 2012!


I am now the proud owner of a start number for the Rock 'n' Roll Madrid Marathon 2012!!

My flights are booked and paid for and I have paid a deposit on a small apartment around 7 minutes walk from the start line where I will stay from the Thursday until the Monday.

I'm working on a training programme for myself which focuses on hill training as this is a weakness of mine. As a general rule I hate hills. In Valencia marathon we run in tunnels twice and both times coming out of the tunnel I walked up most of the hill!

Still it's going to be one BIG party and I can't wait :-)

5 Dec 2011

Rock 'n' Roll Madrid Marathon 2012



I've made my decision and I'm going to run Madrid Marathon 2012!!
http://es.competitor.com/madrid/madrid-splash/?lang=en&lang=en

I decided on Madrid because I like the Rock 'n' Roll thing that it will have going on :-)

As Madrid has hills and will probably be hot I don't expect to get another PB but I do expect to have a lot of fun while running the marathon!! And as I say to my beginner running clients 'running is meant to be fun'.

Just expect a slightly different attitude for Berlin Marathon 2012 when I am aiming for 4 hours or less........

3 Dec 2011

Barcelona or Madrid Marathon Spring 2012?!!

Ok. I'm down to two Spring marathons that I'm interested in: Barcelona and Madrid!

Barcelona will have the cooler weather and the flatter course. But I've been to Barcelona already.

Madrid will have someone I know (the cool Spanish guy that was doing the interviews in Valencia) and I've never been there before. But will have hills and probably hot weather.

I think if it was a simple choice I would choose Barcelona but Madrid has something that Barcelona doesn't and that's ROCK 'N' ROLL!!

Click the link and watch the video at the top of the page and you will see why Madrid Marathon is very attractive to me
http://es.competitor.com/madrid/madrid-splash/?lang=en

What to do! What to do!!

2 Dec 2011

50 Marathons, 50 Cities, Before I'm 50

I shared a dream of mine with a Spanish guy that I ran some of Valencia Marathon with.

That dream is to run 50 marathons in 50 different european cities before I'm 50!!

These are my marathon ideas (not set in stone) for the next few years:-

May 2011 - Copenhagen Marathon
Nov 2011 - Valencia Marathon
Spring 2012 - Madrid or Barcelona Marathon
Autumn 2012 - Berlin Marathon
Spring 2013 - Barcelona or Madrid Marathon
Autumn 2013 - Nice-Cannes Marathon
Spring 2014 - Seville Marathon
Autumn 2014 - Venice Marathon

From 2013 I will probably begin to run three marathons a year!! There are so many others I want to do such as Milan, Lisbon, Budapest, Florence, Hamburg, Rome.........

I'm not sure if I can be called a beginner anymore. Maybe I should change the title of my blog to the title of this post??

1 Dec 2011

My Valencia Marathon Splits!!

I was just thinking that I hadn't seen my marathon splits yet, so I hunted the web for them and here they are:-
(it seems that my chip wasn't noted at the 5k and 20k markers)


DETAILED CLASSIFICATION AND TIMES: KNIGHTLEY, DEANNA LYNNE- (dorsal n º 3683)
timed event by: [ MyLap ]
CLASSIFICATIONTIMEPERIODPOSITIONDISTANCEMEDIA BY KMSPEED
OFFICIAL TIME4:36:01...535942,195k6:329.17 km / h
REAL TIME4:31:5500:04:06534442,195k6:279.31 km / h
TIME at 10k1:06:061:02:00555310k6:129.68 km / h
TIME at 15k1:37:1400:31:08555315k6:149.64 km / h
TIME at 25k2:40:221:03:08551925k6:199.50 km / h
Time at 30k3:13:0400:32:42549230k6:329.17 km / h
TIME at 35k3:46:3800:33:34544535k6:438.94 km / h
TIME at 40k4:21:4000:35:02538240k7:008.56 km / h
TIME at 42k4:36:0100:14:21535942,195k6:329.18 km / h

More Photos from Valencia Marathon 2011!!







30 Nov 2011

Which European Spring Marathon Should I Run???

Ok. I really must have this marathon bug thing!

I'm signed up for Berlin 2012 but that's so far away that I want to run a spring marathon as well :-)

I'm thinking about Madrid but would love to know what your favourites are and why? I will go for a few days and make a holiday out of it. I'd like to run a marathon where the crowds are 100% behind you as they were in Valencia :-)

Thanks for your help!!

29 Nov 2011

31st Edition of Valencia Marathon 2011!!

My official Valencia Marathon time is 4 hours, 31 minutes and 55 seconds! (I had run 44k)
My official Copenhagen Marathon time was 4 hours, 43 minutes and 33 seconds

I stopped my watch after marathon distance (I was only at the 40k marker when my watch said 42.2k) and it said 4 hours, 21 minutes and 13 seconds.
It's the 'official' time that counts though.

MY VALENCIA MARATHON FINISHING VIDEO (around 1 minute in) I look finished quite literally!!



 Setting up before the marathon

 Setting up the finish before the marathon

On marathon morning I woke up, had some breakfast and an espresso. Then I put on my usual Running Copenhagen orange t-shirt, black shorts and pink trainers. At 8.30am I made my way to the start line 10 minutes away. The weather was around 12 degrees with some light cloud. I didn't like the look of it as I could see that the sun would be out later!

Once at the start line I queued for the toilets and took in the atmosphere. It was fantastic, even better that Copenhagen Marathon. There was a 10k race starting at the same time as the marathon. The marathon runners were starting on one side of the bridge and the 10k runners were on the other side. We would run around the first 4k together but on different sides of the road. 

I started almost at the back and then heard the fireworks which meant the marathon had started. It was much quicker to get over the start line and only took 4 minutes.

The photo below shows how great the start was:-
 Valencia Marathon Start


 Just before 3k a really cool Spanish guy started talking to me. It was his first marathon. He was running with a video camera on his head and wanted to interview 42 different runners about a dream they have for the future. I thought this was a fantastic idea :-)

In my interview at the 3k point I told him that I wanted to run a marathon in every city in Europe before the age of 50!

While he was doing his interviews at every kilometre mark I ran with his sister. It was also her first marathon. More and more of the people that had given interviews to her brother started running with us. There was a really cool family of 5 that were having the best of times :-)

I really enjoyed running with all these people but started dropping back from them at 19k. This was when the weather started getting a lot hotter!!

I did the same as I did during Copenhagen Marathon which was to walk through all the water stops. Valencia had better stops in some ways and worse in others. The water was in a bottle so you could run with it and take sips all the way until the next stop but there was only water there. No oranges! No bananas! No energy drinks! From 20k onwards I started taking 2 bottles, 1 to throw all over me and 1 to drink. I was very glad that I had 9 energy gels with me this time instead of just 6.

From 7.5k and then every 5k (12.5, 17.5, etc) there were 'firemen?' hosing the runners down with water if they wanted it. I ran through everyone of these and enjoyed being cooled down, if only for a little while.



I started really beginning to struggle with the heat from 28k onwards. By then the temperature was around 20 degrees. It was around 22 degrees when I hit the 38k marker. I just looked at the green marathon line on the floor, listened to some Justin Timberlake and kept on running!
I had planned to only walk at the drinking stations but at 38k I walked for a minute and just took my extra energy gel that was for emergencys!

At 41k I began to speed up as I knew I was nearly there :-)

Just before I started to run on the platform on the water I got the crowds on either side to cheer really loud for me :-) That was a great moment! It was like I was in front of everyone and was about to get my gold medal!!


Once I crossed the line I was so happy! It was a harder run than Copenhagen had been simply because of the sunshine. I always knew if the sun came out I might be in trouble. I hadn't expected the weather to be quite so hot as everything I had read said it would be between 12 and 17 degrees.

 Me and my Medal


 The finish line

 With all my Valencia Marathon gear

My Official Time

To sum it all up I would say that this is a fantastic marathon, very well organised and certainly worth running! The Spanish crowds are great and really get behind you. Their cheers really helped me along and gave me such a boost each time :-) This is a marathon that I would run again :-)

http://www.rtvv.es/va/maratovalencia/Arribada-Marato-Valencia_3_598770171.html

25 Nov 2011

One and a Half Days Until Valencia Marathon!!

I picked up my marathon pack and number today 3683 so now I'm the proud owner of a Valencian Marathon t-shirt and cap and many more goodies :-) I just need the medal to go with them!

It is pretty hot here right now. Today was 23 degrees with clear skies!! I hope it's not so hot for Sunday. From 5k onwards every 2.5k there is an option to have water during the marathon so I'm happy about that.

So this is it!! MARATHON NUMBER 2 :-)

I forgot the cable to connect my camera to the computer so photos will have to wait until I am home again...

Weather forecast for Sunday :-


Details for Sunday, November 27, 2011

3
Partly sunny with a shower in places in the afternoon
High Temperature
17°C
RealFeel®
17°C
Winds
N 8
Maximum UV
2
Thunderstorm Probability
20%
Amount of Precipitation
0
Amount of Rain
0
Amount of Snow
0
Hours of Precipitation
1 Hour
Hours of Rain
1 Hour

23 Nov 2011

Tomorrow = Valencia!!

This time tomorrow I will be on my way to Zurich to then wait for my flight to Valencia! And I can't wait :-)

I've started getting a little nervous about the marathon now. I can feel all the old feeling surfacing again.

I've got butterflies in my stomach and am having problems sitting still. I know I can finish the marathon so I'm not worried about that this time. I'm so looking forward to the feeling right at the start of the marathon. I love the electric feeling that is in the air.

VALENCIA :-)

This is how Sundays weather is looking now :- I'm not too worried as all the other weather sites are showing sun with clouds and around 17 degrees. (I just thought it was a good idea to use the same weather website on here).


Details for Sunday, November 27, 2011

18
Cooler with rain
High Temperature
14°C
RealFeel®
11°C
Winds
NNE 19
Maximum UV
1
Thunderstorm Probability
4%
Amount of Precipitation
10.16
Amount of Rain
10.16
Amount of Snow
0
Hours of Precipitation
12 Hours
Hours of Rain
12 Hours