The final countdown

I really can't believe how the last few months have flown by, it feels only yesterday that Aly called me and delivered the news I had made the selection for 2018 10in10 challenge, that was June last year. I'm now on the brink of the challenge itself with the main bulk of my training for 10 Marathons in 10 days behind me, Blackpool Marathon which I'll tell you about shortly brought the curtain down on my training plan.
When I very first put together my Just Giving Page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sean-warburton1  in June last year I wrote, "how do you even train for 10 marathons?" I'm still not sure I know if I'm honest, you can torture yourself going over these things which I tend to do, a quick look on Facebook & Strava will reveal some members of the group doubling my mileage this year, and there will be other with less miles, those with injuries and illness, and those who've cross trained with spinning, cycling, strength etc. So who's right? Well, I think we all are.....everyone is different, and everyone is unique and as such will require different training plans and approaches. I feel like my plan is right for me, I've had my ups and downs like everyone, but I'm feeling "ready" now, at least as ready as I'll ever be, I just want to get up there now and get started before anything goes wrong!

We had really warm weather in the build up to Blackpool Marathon, so I was a little concerned about the conditions being too warm for me, I don't really get on with warm weather. I needn't have worried mind you as when we arrived in Blackpool it was really cold, wet and windy and I was freezing! I also miss read the information and got set for a 9am start, only to realise the race started at 9:30am, so I had an extra half hour to stand around in the cold.

I was really glad to get moving and warmed up, probably got a little too warm if I'm honest as I'd made a rookie mistake of over layering due to being cold. All the same I got through the race with no major problems, felt off for the last few miles with sickness which was unusual but regained my complexion once over the finish line. I completed in 3:24 official which I was happy with given the wind and the way I felt for the last few miles, hats off to Flyde Coast Runners for putting on an excellent event and great bling!

 

 

My recovery after events has improved greatly over the last few months, previous to my 10 in 10 training I was good for nothing the day after a marathon, but these days I feel pretty good and tend to run the day after as normal, so maybe I do know how to train for 10 Marathons after all? Well that particular question will be answered all to soon, just over 2 weeks until we head to the Lake District to run day 1 of 10 marathons.

 

I couldn't finish without mentioning the tragic and untimely death of Matt Campbell whilst running to raise funds for Brathay in the London Marathon this weekend.  The trust have been overwhelmed by the donations received in his memory to support their work. At the time of writing pledges total over £153,000 largely on his Just Giving page which is incredible https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mattcampbell-londonmarathon

 

Matt was the son of Martin who was an integral part of the 10in10 for nine years, Matt was close to everyone at Brathay firstly because of his Dad and in more recent times because of himself. It was a huge and overwhelming shock to lose Martin 18 months ago, to be followed so closely by Matt is almost beyond belief......

 

It's made me even more determined to complete my challenge to support Brathay and all the amazing people associated with the Brathay Trust. I also want to dedicate my Blackpool Marathon run to Matt, thoughts are with his family and friends.

 

#runformatt

 



Manchester Marathon

Since my last post it's fair  to say I have had a few visits to the Physio, generally just been a bit knackered with all the mileage I think. Some planned maintenance visits for sports massage along with some niggle treatments and inspections, toe, hip..knee.....the usual flash points for runners.

I've been trying to find a physio which I'm happy with, following my training weekend with the Brathay support team in January it made me question who I'd been going to, so after searching around a while I was very pleased with the friendly and excellent service I found at Dave Roberts Physio Oldham. Very consistent with the Brathay teams advice and very quickly sorted out my problems which have been causing me worry.

Anyway..since the double lap of Windermere I've been sticking with longer runs at weekend and keeping up with leg strength work, besides the above niggles so far so good. We also had an excellent charity night in the local pub organised by Sarah, not a huge turn out probably due to it being Easter weekend but the people who did attend were fantastic and donated some great prizes to the raffle. We ended up raising £570 towards my fundraising target.

I reduced my mileage in the build up to Manchester, given the above niggles I really wanted to run this event and arrive in good shape, so just a few short runs the week of the marathon (well, short for a 10 in 10 runner). I arrived in town early on the morning as I wanted to get parked up in plenty of time and relax before the race start.

Good to see a few friendly faces around at the start line, once the race got underway Rich Rex a fellow 10in10er ran along side me for a while, he was running his 100th marathon! On reflection a honour to be part of his day, I can't imagine getting to that many marathons, I've not actually run that many when compared to most of this years team of runners so it's great to have such experience around, especially Rich Rex as he has also completed 10 in 10 before, he'll know the bad bits, and good (there are reportedly some good bits) .

There were two firsts for me on this marathon, one I got a blister and secondly I got cramp in my right calf muscle. Both avoidable and a bit annoying I felt, firstly the blister I blame on the wrong socks, I was rushing a bit when I left the house and grabbed some cold weather socks, too thick and warm which led to the blister. I did stop to take a look, but that's all I could do really, have a look and put my sock back on........
Secondly the cramp.......as excellent as this event is, there was surprisingly no electrolyte isotonic drinks on route, just water and gels, so I must have sweated out too much sodium (probably assisted by my socks). So a lesson learnt, don't wear thick socks or you'll die basically.

So overall I have to say (despite the electrolytes) this was an awesome event, I was actually quite overwhelmed by the support of the people of Manchester, support all the way around. Was great to see some friendly faces both running and in the crowd also. I finished in 3 hours 15 minutes and 55 (official) seconds, even with a few blister and cramp stretch stops. Blackpool Marathon is my next and.............LAST.....training event before the 10 in 10 in two weeks time, can't believe it's so close now, just 31 days until marathon number one of ten. I think it's fair to say shit is most certainly getting real now.

 

 

 

I'm up to £2157 now thanks to the amazing support of all you people!!! I am feeling so good at the moment and that is all down to the amazing support I am  getting from my Wife, family, colleagues and friends, thank you all. The Brathay Trust is an amazing place which really does change young lives, if you ever get chance to stay or visit you must and you'll see some of the fantastic work happening on site, it's why I'm doing this :)

 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sean-warburton1