Rock 'n' Roll Edinburgh Half Marathon

And so at last I have decided on one of my half marathons next year. I've signed up for the Rock 'n' Roll Edinburgh half marathon :-)

My friends Ciry and Greg ran it last year before the Madrid marathon and gave great reviews of it! It's on 14th April and I didn't really want to travel until at least May but what can you do?

I have come up with a new goal for myself as I'm not planning on running many (or any) marathons for a while. My next goal is to run all the international Rock 'n' Roll series races! Right now they have them in Nice, Lisbon, Edinburgh, Madrid, Oslo, and Dublin. Oslo and Nice are new ones so it will be fun to see which other cities join the series year by year.

I've only run Madrid right now so have a few to go.....I should be kept busy for a while :-)

Which Race in Europe Next??

I need some help and suggestions on my next race as I can't decide and in 2013 money will be a little short as I've bought a house which I move into 1st March 2013.

This means that Spring races are out of the question as I'll have to spend money on house things. I'm already on a trip to England with my younger son the last week in July which counts out any races in June, July and August. There are no races nearby where I'm staying in England while I'm there.

Basically this means I need a race in Europe that's not longer than a half marathon either in May, September or even October.

I found this great race called Race the Train which is in England on 17th August but can I really go back there 2 weeks after I've just been?

I also found this other race the train run which is in October http://www.cotswoldcare.org.uk/train/details.php

I'm open to any ideas at all :-) Help!!!

Valencia (my 10km) Marathon 2012

As you can probably tell by the title I didn't run the whole of Valencia marathon! I was very close to changing my mind and doing it anyway but thought I might end up doing more damage to my knee and not being able to run at all.

So I decided to meet my friend Ciry just after the 30km marker and run up to 40km with her. From there I could cut through the park and watch her run into the finish :-)

I arrived in Valencia on the Saturday evening and went down to the Science and Arts area which is also where the start and finish lines are. Then I went back to hotel to meet Ciry.

At 9am on the day of Valencia Marathon I went and stood downstairs of my hotel and watched the start of the marathon. I actually cried because I wanted to be running with them (I was glad later on that I wasn't as it got very hot again).

At 11am I waited at the 41k marker and saw the two marathon leaders come running by! That is something that I normally don't get to see :-) From there I walked up to 30k and waited for Ciry.

Once she arrived I jumped on the course (I had last years bib number on minus the chip so I wouldn't get sent off again) and joined her for the next 10k. A lot of the spectators that had been there on the walk up had now disappeared, probably down to the finish area. It felt really strange running in a marathon which I wasn't really running in! Ciry was doing great and only started getting tired around 37k (from what I could see anyway).

At 40k I said goodbye to her and ran down to the finish area. She came running past about 13 minutes later looking very tired but very determined :-)

Ciry finished in 4 hours, 36 minutes and 9 seconds!!!

Valencia Marathon is a No Go for Me!

After Berlin Marathon my recovery hasn't been so good! Actually it's been the worst yet after a marathon....

I knew my legs would hurt for a few days but I hadn't figured on my knees, especially my right one, still hurting on and off after 9 days :-(

I've always had knee problems after a run but since training for Valencia Marathon last year they stopped hurting and have been fine since. I can only imagine that because I was pushing my body to the limit in Berlin, and didn't slow down for the last 5k as I normally would, that my knees just couldn't take the extra pressure. Also maybe going from not running at all to running 4 marathons in 16 months might not have been so smart!

Not that I regret running Berlin for one second as, thanks to Paul, I DID finish in under 4:30!!

My plan for the next couple of months is to take it easy and learn to land on my fore or midfoot to take away  some of the jarring on my knees. I'm also going to stengthen up my quad muscles as this should help too. Right now my plans for next year include no marathons but at least two of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series half marathons in Europe. Next year I will have the choice of Nice, Edinburgh, and Dublin and probably Lisbon. Edinburgh and Lisbon are the ones I'm thinking of doing! So next year for me is going to be no serious racing and just running for fun :-)

So basically because I'm going to be learning to land differently and I want to give my knees some time to recover I won't be running Valencia Marathon :-( I will, however, be running the 10k there if my knees are feeling better by then but I'll just be using it as a 'fun run'. I'll also have to jump on the marathon course in a couple of places to run with my good friend Ciry and help her beat the 4:30 time as I did in Berlin :-)

I last saw Ciry in Madrid in April and can't wait to see her again in Valencia!! See you real soon Ciry!

Mike's Sightrunning Berlin Marathon Orientation!

While in Berlin Paul, Latimer and I met up with Mike from Mike's SightRunning Berlin who had kindly offered to give us a Berlin Marathon orientation tour :-)

I first met Mike when I visited Berlin to see the 'Festival of Lights' in October 2010. I thought it would be great fun to run around the city at night seeing the lights and having a guided tour at the same time. You can read my review of that tour here Festival of Lights Sightrunning Tour and here More Photos of Light Sightrunning Tour. As you can see, I had a great time and highly recommend Mike's SightRunning.

Anyway on the Friday morning before the marathon we met Mike outside the main station along with two other guys. He took us over to the marathon start/finish area and then proceeded to tell us everything he could about the marathon. This was a lot as Mike has run the marathon over 10 times!! Mike told us about the different ways into the start area, the best way in to avoid the crowds, how we would have to walk a long way once we finish and be penned in like sheep again. He gave us tips on drinking water and how to avoid lots of toilet visits (I certainly needed help there). He is very interesting to listen to.

We enjoyed very much our time together with Mike and it won't be the last time I see him as I'm hoping to visit Berlin for a little holiday next year and will definatly be doing another sight running tour with Mike :-)

Berlin Marathon 2012 Write Up!

First things first:-

 I GOT A NEW PERSONAL BEST IN BERLIN MARATHON 2012!!!
I FINISHED IN 4 HOURS, 27 MINUTES AND 19 SECONDS!!! I'M SO HAPPY :-)

I've had such a strange month leading up to this marathon that I knew it would be hard! I managed to get in a 25k run 4 weeks before and then a 17k with three weeks to go but it was all downhill from there.

I had a mole removed so wasn't allowed to run for 10 days until the stitches were out and then, the day before they came out, I caught a very bad cold so I couldn't breathe very well. I wasn't going to run like that and make it worse! So my goal for the last month has been to make it to the start line.

My friend Paul from 50-is-the-new-30.blog was to be my pacer for the whole race! I was so glad he was with me especially at the end but I'll get to that later :-)

The weather marathon morning was sun with a big blue sky! It was going to be a hot one....

At 8am on race morning Latimer (my son) and I met up with Paul and Toni. Toni would be looking after Latimer while I was running :-) Latimer and Toni both had huge cowbells that Paul had bought for them so we would hear them in the crowds of spectators :-)

We said goodbye to them and headed down to the beginning of block H where we would be starting from. Of course, I just had to go to the toilet before we got penned in. I actually starting bleating like a sheep as that's what I felt like. It was very squashy waiting to begin running.

At 9am the first wave of runners started their marathon and lots of blue balloons were let up into the sky. It looked very pretty! At around 9.10am the second wave of runners were off. We started walking towards the start around 9.15am and were over the start line and on our way by around 9.20am.

The blue race line

For around the first 7 or 8k it was pretty crowded and very hard to keep an even pace going. There were so many runners. I haven't done a large race like this before so it was a completely different experience.

At the first water station I knew that my fear of plastic cups all over the ground was going to be a reality :-( The stops were every 5k to begin with and then became every 2.5k. So every time there was a stop for around the next 300 metres or so you had to watch the ground and hope that you will not step wrong and slip over! It seemed that everytime a water stop came up it was on a narrow road so you would grab your drink and try to keep running while watching the ground for cups. This made it impossible to get an even pace going again until the stop had been left behind. Paul actually saw a man go down from slipping on a cup at a water stop later in the race!!

We looked out for Latimer and Toni (and listened for their cowbells) at the 7k mark but didn't see them there. We found out later that they didn't make it there in time. They were also standing at 21k, 32k, and 42k and we saw (and heard) them at each of these stops :-) It was fantastic to be able to run over and give Latimer a kiss before running on again!!

For the first half marathon I was pretty high and talking lots and just enjoying the whole atmosphere :-) There were so many Danes (around 30000) cheering the runners on and Danish flags were everywhere. I didn't have a danish top on but I found out that if I waved my arms like crazy and shouted out 'Danmark' they would all shout back at me :-) They really helped me along! Thank you so much to all the Danes that were there!!

I didn't do my usual stop at 30k where I play my own mind games and pretend I'm just about to start a 12k race. I still did try and pretend I was just starting the run for the day but I did it this time after having my water and continuing to run. I just clenched my fists together and started saying out loud 'it's a brand new day' 'it's a 12k run'. This helped for a little while.....I remember starting to count down the kilometres from there but stopped after saying 'nine to go'. This is where I started getting into a little trouble!!

Thank you Paul for being by my side!! He had done a great job of trying to keep me doing an even pace and we had even started to make up a little of the time we lost at the beginning with the crowds of runners. I was so tired by 40k that I just had the urge to stop and walk but I didn't. I could hear Paul behind me telling me that I was looking good and that my pace was still on track. This helped so much!!  I had nothing left to give and just tried to run the same speed as before. I think we slowed a little for the last 2k though. I was struggling so much! I didn't hit the wall but it was so hard to keep up the pace!!

Then there it was! The Brandenburg gate was right before me!! What a fantastic sight :-) We ran through the middle gate as Mike from mikes sightrunning had said we should! Paul had been trying to get me to speed up since around 41.5k but I kept saying that it wasn't possible and I couldn't do it. Then with the finish line around 150 metres away I shouted 'sod it! Let's go!' It wasn't exactly a sprint finish for me but I did speed up my pace and just crossed the line while clenching my teeth together :-) A great video that will make!

I finished in 4 hours, 27 minutes and 19 seconds so got my new personal record!! There is no way I would have done it without Paul as he really kept me going the same pace for the last few kilometres!! By myself I would have slowed down!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Paul :-)

After crossing the line I was breathing very quickly and loudly. Someone asked if I was ok and I kind of said yes and waved them off. It was time to become a sheep again! We had to queue up for our medal and then to get past the plastic sheets being handed out. All I wanted was some water but it took us about 20 minutes to get to the people handing it out. Then me and Paul went for the beer :-)

Then we made our way to the family reunion area and found Latimer and Toni :-) We all had dinner together that evening too. It was great to see Toni and Paul again and we talked about meeting in Spain when they travel there :-)

One last thing here which is very important:-
I DID NOT HAVE A SINGLE TOILET STOP DURING THE MARATHON ;-)

I do think that there were too many runners for the course. Maybe if there were 30000 runners instead of 40000 it would improve the crowding at the beginning and also the waiting around times?

My overall experience of Berlin Marathon was fantastic!! And I would recommend everyone to try it at least once!!! Oh yeah and the medal looks great :-)


Knightley, Lynne-Deanne (GBR)
Overall: 4289
Overall: 696 (in Agegroup: W35)
chiptotal: 04:27:19
clocktotal: 04:47:43
First half: 02:13:11
Second half: 02:14:09
Time per km: 06:20
Speed: 9.47 km/h
5 km: 00:31:33
10 km: 01:03:33
15 km: 01:34:50
20 km: 02:06:08
25 km: 02:37:43
30 km: 03:09:38
35 km: 03:41:34
40 km: 04:13:07

Cool 3D Video Berlin Marathon 2012 Course

Ok I wasn't go to post today but this video is way too cool!

And for anyway wanting to know the Berlin marathon weather with only 5 days to go....

Partly sunny and still 15 degrees :-)

Too Sick for Friløbet Run!

I forgot to write yesterday about the Friløbet run in Copenhagen. This was probably because I never ran it as I've been ill since Thursday evening :-(

What started as a little bit of an itchy throat turned into a full blown head cold and chesty cough by Friday. I decided not to run yesterday because I was scared that I would make myself worse and all I want to do is be well for next Sunday!

I have been feeling really sorry for myself and worried about how I will be for Berlin Marathon! I keep trying to think positive thoughts. I mean aren't I glad that I was ill this weekend and not next? It doesn't work because I just think why did I have to get ill at all?

I am taking loads of vitamin c and washing my hands every time I use public transport and am using anti bacterial wipes all the time. I am worried because I have hardly run within the last few weeks. First I had that mole removed (the results came back fine by the way), and then this cold.

The good news is I am feeling better today so I'm sure I'll be fine by the time I leave Copenhagen for Berlin on Thursday. I'm just hoping Latimer hasn't caught it!

Anyway I'll stop moaning now :-) The weather for Berlin marathon with 6 days to go is:-

15 degrees with clouds and sun! NO RAIN!

Berlin Marathon in 7 days!!

I can't believe that this time in 7 days I will be proudly wearing my Berlin Marathon medal around my neck!!

It is so close now that all my nerves and emotions are beginning to kick in :-) I am so excited but also so scared of such a big marathon. He he not long to go now!

I arrive in Berlin on Thursday so have loads of time to explore. I've been there before but this time I have my older son with me so will be doing lots of kids stuff. 

Good news is I should have my own computer back within a week!!!! About time too! So I will have LOADS of photos for my Berlin write up :-)

Bad news is the weather is looking pretty bad right now :-( It says 15 degrees and RAIN. I don't care what the temperature is but I really don't want rain!!!

Friløbet Tivoli Run on Sunday!

On Sunday I get to check out my form for Berlin!

My friends boyfriend was going to run a cool 10k race in Copenhagen called Friløbet. It's where you get to run inside Tivoli Gardens (amusement park with gardens). I ran it 2 years ago and loved it very much :-)

Anyway he can't run it so I now own his start number which says Martin on it! So I'll be a man for an hour ;-)

My plan is to go for my fastest 10k yet! I've improved so much on my 5k this year so I'm in with a chance!

You can read my blog post about the last time I ran this race at Friløbet 2010

Berlin Marathon weather 15 days to go!

Just a quick post today :-)

I couldn't help myself and had to try and find out what weather is being predicted for Berlin Marathon. It is:-

RAIN
15°C

Berlin Tapering and Ouch!

First things first:- Only 20 Days until Berlin Marathon!!!

As usual things just don't seem to go as planned!

On Saturday I ran a 17k run with a pace of around 5:45. I was very happy with this :-)

On Sunday there was the Powerade Half Marathon in Copenhagen. I decided not to run for a few reasons. The main ones being that I need to pay for my race number for Valencia and didn't want to pay 300kr for a half marathon, I didn't want to risk my stomach playing up again because I'd already done a good run the day before, and Felicity was running it and I thought it should be her day not mine.

I have been instructing Felicity since last October when she could only run 2 minutes, then walk 2 minutes. Now she has finished a half marathon! I'm so proud of her!! She finished in a good time of 2 hours and 19 minutes :-)

Right back to my troubles this week....

I had an appointment yesterday with a skin doctor as I had noticed a couple of my moles were looking a little strange. She checked them out and everything was fine with them. All good so far...

She then checked all the moles on my body and found one on my shoulder blade that looked asymetrical so she removed it by punch biopsy and has sent it to be checked out!! I asked to see it afterwards and it was horrible! She had removed the mole and about 6mm of the skin layer below it!!

It's got stitches in it that will be removed on Friday 21st Sept. My problem is because of it being on my shoulder blade I can't really run until the stitches are removed. What am I supposed to do about my tapering?? I can bike so I'm thinking about just doing a lot of biking between now and Berlin. The doctor did give me the go ahead to run Berlin but I will have to have some tape over the scar.

I'm wondering if I should drop my idea of trying for a 4:15 marathon and just try to finish in under 4:30 instead? Grrrrrrrrrr...........

Berlin, Valencia, and Gran Canaria Marathons!

First of all sorry there are no photos on this blogpost. I know how we all love to see them. My computer is still being repaired so I have no access to all my photos :-(

I had no idea what to call this blogpost as so much has happened and I have so much to share! I'll start with Berlin Marathon...

My training is going ok except.....I have had stomach pains for over 3 weeks but just kind of ignored them and cut back a little on my running. Last Saturday I thought it was time to have a long run so I did 25k with a 6:25ish pace. Early Sunday morning I woke up with a really sharp pain on my left side and extremely bad nausea so I went down to the ER on the Sunday. They didn't give me an ultrasund but I thought I needed one so I rang my doctor monday and had a scan. Nothing is wrong and it seems I just had a bacterial infection. So I'm now on antibiotics and am feeling the best I have for over a month.

So back to training for Berlin I think :-) I'm planning on a 17k this Saturday and next Saturday with a couple of smaller runs and some interval training inbetween. I do feel ready for Berlin and will be happy as long as my time is under 4:30:00!!

Now this is where my world gets complicated.....

As you know I have signed up for Gran Canaria marathon 2013. My good friend (lost long sister) Ciry from conquering26-2 was going to run Rome in 2013 and I was going to meet her there. I found out the other day that she will no longer be coming to Europe in 2013!! Ahhhh but I really want to see her again! I knew that she would be in Gran canaria in late November so started looking at my flights to Gran Canaria to see if I could change them.

As it happens because one of my flights down to Gran Canaria had been changed by the company and I hadn't accepted these changes I was entitled to a full refund :-) I decided to do this, then buy some flights to barcelona for November and from there take a train to Valencia and back a few days later. (it's actually cheaper than flying from Copenhagen to Valencia as there are no direct flights anyway).

You see Ciry will be in Valencia running the marathon on Sunday 18th November!! What does all this mean for me?

Basically as I am no longer going to Gran Canaria I will no longer be running the marathon there! I will try and transfer my entry to 2014 if I can.

On the other hand as I'm in Valencia to see Ciry I suppose it would make sense to run Valencia marathon together with her :-)

No times or anything just run and have fun!!

Hot Hot Denmark!!

Yesterday was the hottest day in Copenhagen for the last 37 years! Because of the 'extreme heat' I decided to cancel the half marathon training and advised everyone to run once the sun had set or in the early morning.

One of the girls still wanted to get some exercise in so biked 1 hour to my home and then we both biked to the beach and went swimming :-)
It was really great to cool off in the sea!

It's supposed to get rainy and cold again from tomorrow so it looks like our 17k run next Monday will still be on....

Berlin marathon is only 40 days away now and coming up fast!! I feel ready for it as I have done lots of biking this summer on top of my running so actually feel really fit right now :-)

I'm planning on running the Powerade half marathon as an instructor to help one of the girls round and then running home afterwards. This will then put me at around 27k so will be used as my long run before Berlin!

No photos today I'm afraid as I'm on a different computer as my one has died....as least I've got the internet back working properly again!

Running on the Beach

The other day I was going to meet up with some other runners in my half marathon training group (they are going to run the Powerade half marathon in Copenhagen on 9th September so I'm helping them get ready).

We were supposed to be running around 16k this time but it was so hot outside (yes Denmark does get hot too). Anyway I decided that a bit of variety was good for moral so we ran 4k down to the beach and took our trainers and socks off and ran 2k in the sea and wet sand! It was so refreshing :-)

We then ran the 4k back. We all agreed that this was great training and that we had all enjoyed it very much!

My plan for the next training is too run around about the 16k ending up at the beach and having a quick swim afterwards. That will be a great way to end a run I think :-)

Berlin Marathon in Less Than Two Months!

July seems to have really gotten away from me this year!

I have been on holiday for most of it so I think I've been a little lazy with my writing ;-)
I have still been out running and am really enjoying my 17:30 run every Monday evening where I run with others. We add an extra kilometer each week which is really working out well. Once we get into the middle of August I'm going to add an extra 5k or so onto the distance just for myself and use the Monday training for my long runs.

I'm nearly half way through my running coaching of my beginners group and it's going very well. They are surprised at how much fitter they feel now compared to just 6 weeks ago!

Team Hvidovre

I'm still planning on just having one longer run each week and doing some hill training too. The other days I will be doing interval training so I can finish Berlin in 4 hours and 15 minutes or under :-)

Trail Running for Beginners!

Lanzarote Wine Race

So sorry that I haven't written for a while but I haven't really had anything different to write about!

I'm still doing the running coaching and it's going very well. I come up with new fun games to play week after week and enjoy seeing the people I'm coaching improving all the time.

I've started doing half marathon training for anyone that wants to join us every Monday evening. This is really good because then I have a set time to be somewhere and a set distance to run. This will always get me out of the door, which when the summer is rubbish (like it is this year), gives me the motivation I need to keep on running.

And, of course, I am still doing my training for Berlin Marathon :-)

Trail Sierra Montsant

The big change in my running life is that I have decided to start doing some trail races in Spain from around October 2013 :-) I can't start until then as I am already committed to a lot of city marathons up to next summer.

My friend Jose from http://de10a100km.blogspot.com has recommended a few for me. They are Trail Sierra Montsant, Tarragona,  half marathon of the wine in Lanzarote, and half marathon of collserola, Barcelona.

half marathon of collserola

After reading about all three of them I'm a little worried about getting lost (or just drinking too much wine in Lanzarote) and hope that I can convince someone (hint hint Jose) to run one of them with me ;-) 


Otherwise knowing me I'll probably fall off the side of the mountain never to be heard from again!

New 5k Records for Both of Us!

Latimer and I both ran the 5k Mini Strandløb (beach run) this evening!

The sun was shining and it was really hot to run in. Latimer and I started very near the front so Latimer could just run without having to overtake or be held up by lots of people. I was hoping to get a better 5k but with the weather being so hot I wasn't expecting it to happen.

When the gun sounded and we got over the line Latimer just ran! I had lost him within 7 seconds this time! My plan was to start off a little fast and then try and run around 5.13 pace or less. That way I should beat my last 5k time.

By 3.5k I was really finding it hard going because of the sun but just put my head down and kept on running. I was looking out for Latimer but didn't see him anywhere.

At the finish I did my usual sprint even though I was almost dead and I won a goody bag :-) I've never won one before so was very happy!

Latimer was watching me finish and we high fived when I came over the line. We both had got new 5k records!!

Latimer finished in 25 minutes and 21 seconds which is over a minute faster then his best 5k before today!
I finished in 25 minutes and 49 seconds which is almost 45 seconds faster than my best!

Beginner Training Group and Other Stuff

Last Saturday I started training my beginners running group! There are over 20 beginners that I am training and most of them haven't run much or at all before. I found lots of cool running games we could play together and this seemed to work out really well.

I'm looking very much forward to seeing them all again this Saturday :-)

Today I have started some social half marathon training leading up to the Powerade Copenhagen Half Marathon on 9th September. I'm planning on running it in under 2 hours. If I can do that my goal of Berlin Marathon in under 4 hours and 15 minutes should be doable!

We ran 10k today, 11k next week and then adding on more kilometres each week until 2 weeks before when we'll drop the mileage again. 

On top of this training I will also be doing intervals once a week and hill training once a week and then another run anything between 5k and 28k each week.

I can't wait until Wednesday as Latimer and I are racing together in a 5k race! We only have 7 seconds seperating our best times right now. I'll do a write up afterwards....

Interval Training is Going to Kill Me!

This morning I decided to do some interval training. I wasn't sure what but just something.

Once I was out of the door I changed my mind and thought I'd try and beat my 5k time! I ran the first 2k with a pace of 4:50 which is way faster than the 5:10 I started out with last time. I simply couldn't keep running at that speed and had to stop and walk.

After walking around 400 metres, I then ran the next 1k with a pace of 4:40. It was so hard that I decided to do some of the good old 10-20-30 interval training to get home but instead of running the 30 seconds very slow I walked them. Then I ran the 20 seconds with a pace of around 5:30 and then sprinted the last 10 seconds. I did this pattern for around 2k and was very nearly dead by the time I got home!

I suppose if I keep doing something like this every week I'll get used to it in the end and will be faster for Berlin but it's SO hard right now!

100 Days until Berlin Marathon!

The title says it all. This time in 100 days I will have run one of the best marathons in the world, Berlin! And I hopefully will have a new PR too :-)

My training program is in place. I've kept the hill training in my schedule because I enjoy it and it builds up my stamina. You can see it here http://beginnersmarathon.blogspot.dk/p/berlin-marathon-training-program.html

Here are some photos I found from last years Berlin marathon