20 KM Sponsored Run

Now I am 44, and just about to prove that age doesn’t equate to wisdom.

Amid the Guinness, red wine and brandy yesterday I finally confirmed that I am going to do a 20km Sponsored run at the end of October, so that will be the last drink for three months I guess, which at the moment seems a great idea!

This may not sound like that big a deal to you so let me give you some backround:

* I am at least 14 lbs over weight, especially for running,
* I currently run 5km when I run and have never run further than 10km at any one time,
* After 5 lots of surgery on my left knee & leg, 2 hernia operations, manipulative or corrective work on my back (twice) and neck (once) and with the fractured bones in my foot and torn achilles heal not yet fully healed after 2+ years, running is somewhat painful at times.

From a purely selfish perspective it will be a good motivation for me to get fit, lose some weight and have a sense of purpose.

But the real reason for the run is Moreno! He has brought us so much joy and satisfaction since we adopted him in November that I really want to do something to help the local stray animals here in Almerinmar. One of our neighbours recently set up a local fund to try and help the local stray animals, and we have tried to help by putting up a section on the Almerimar Life site to try and find homes for the animals. I want to do more though so have agreed to the run. 75% of the funds raised will go to the local fund and 25% will go towards the cost of maintaining the site.

Training

I am giving myself three months to get fit enough to do this, but I am not sure yet if I will actually attempt a full 20km before the actual day? Part of me wants to know I can do it, part of me doesn’t want to know how painful it is AND have to do it again! My theory is that if I can run 15km and feel that I have some left in the tank I will be OK.

For the first month I intend to focus on getting my mind, body and schedule back into training mode. I need to lose the weight and although increasing my running will do that naturally I am going to give it a bit of a boost my changing my diet a litte:

– no alcohol
– no bread
– no potatoes
– no red meat
– no snacks or sweets

Basically a LOT of fruit, vegetables, salad and water.

Running wise I need to get a balance between training and resting, so I plan to run four times a week, and mountain bike once:

Monday – run in the morning
Tuesday – run in the evening
Wednesday – rest
Thursday – run in the morning
Friday – run in the evening
Saturday – mountain bike (primarily to measure possible routes and use different muscles)
Sunday – rest.

For the first couple of weeks I will continue to run 5km each time and then I will increase that to 7km.

In the second month I will do 2 weeks at 7km and then 2 weeks at 10km.

In the third month I will do two weeks at 10km and two weeks at 15km.

Basically I am just going to run to get fit. I will do some Abs work every day (most important muscle for lifting your legs when running many argue), some pilates for my flexibility and core stability, and some very light weights on my upper body just to keep some muscle definition and help keep my metabolic rate up.

Sponsorship

If you are interested in sponsoring me in this madness then there are a number of ways that you can do it:

– I have set up an online Sponsorship Form (see the icon in the sidebar)
– You can make a donation through Pay Pal (see the icon in the sidebar)
– You can download the Sponsorship Form in English or Spanish if you think you can gather some sponsors locally.

To Be Determined

I need to work out the exact route. I want to try and find a figure 8 route through the Marina and along the beaches. Doing it that way will keep me away from hills, and make the scenery more interesting. It will also make it easier for the people monitoring the run, and providing me some support (water etc) on the day.

I am not sure of the exact day as that will depend to some extent on the weather, but it will be done by the end of October, and it will probably be in the last 3 days of the month.

Keeping in Touch

I will update this post via the comments, and will post new updates from time to time. On the day I intend to post to twitter from my cell phone as I run, and if I can persuade Sands hopefully will have some video to post shortly after the event.

Monitoring

I am going to borrow Sands iPod Nano and Nike + for the actual run to prove the total covered and I will have a number of marshals on the day to verify that I a) do the distance and b) run all the way.