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 :-)

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 :-)

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........

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!!

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??

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 ]
CLASSIFICATION	TIME	PERIOD	POSITION	DISTANCE	MEDIA BY KM	SPEED
OFFICIAL TIME	4:36:01	...	5359	42,195k	6:32	9.17 km / h
REAL TIME	4:31:55	00:04:06	5344	42,195k	6:27	9.31 km / h
TIME at 10k	1:06:06	1:02:00	5553	10k	6:12	9.68 km / h
TIME at 15k	1:37:14	00:31:08	5553	15k	6:14	9.64 km / h
TIME at 25k	2:40:22	1:03:08	5519	25k	6:19	9.50 km / h
Time at 30k	3:13:04	00:32:42	5492	30k	6:32	9.17 km / h
TIME at 35k	3:46:38	00:33:34	5445	35k	6:43	8.94 km / h
TIME at 40k	4:21:40	00:35:02	5382	40k	7:00	8.56 km / h
TIME at 42k	4:36:01	00:14:21	5359	42,195k	6:32	9.18 km / h

More Photos from Valencia Marathon 2011!!