The Silence of the Lamp Posts and the extra challenge!

I usually took a week off after a Marathon. Regardless of how many races you do or have done, recovery is important. If running a Marathon was easy, everyone would be doing it. It is not, it is a challenge to be respected and prepared for (and after). So I used to take a week off.

I didn't this time. I recovered through better nutrition and by planning recovery runs. That's the not so sexy part of this challenge. Running slowly when it hurts in the dark on a very cold evening, counting lamp posts; endless lamp posts. Monday 10K, Tuesday 10K, Wednesday OFF. Recovery nearly complete in 3 days!

Thursday 10K, Friday 10K. Laying the base for the weekend's longer distances. Saturday 9.15 Miles (14.7K) and Sunday 13.81 Miles (22.2K). In daylight, counting happy thoughts. Recovery complete!

These are the weeks that count, 47.8 Miles or 76.9 Kilometres. That's from Limerick to Nenagh then to Roscrea and setting off on the road to Portlaoise. That's what's needed to respect the 12 Marathons in 12 months challenge. On top of running a business and a personal live. It is manageable, it can be done. I'm proof of it and I'm not more human than anyone else.

Motivation helps achieving these challenges. A big WHY (see previous blog) and big MOTIVATION. That motivation also comes from a challenge set online by fellow MCI (Marathon Club Ireland) runner and 300+ Marathon legend Collette O'Hagan. She challenged me and a whole bunch of other people on Facebook to try and run 2015 Miles in 2015.

Last year I ran 1188 Miles. So I put an Excel spread sheet together. It told me I had to run an average of 5.52 Miles EVERY day for the WHOLE year to achieve the 2015 Miles.

As it stands on February 1st I had accumulated 186.64 Miles so far in 2015, 10 Miles ahead of target. This challenge is helping immensely with motivation for me to get up and run 6 days a week. Thanks Collette, superb idea!

This week is another week of counting lamp posts, maintaining a minimum of 38.64 Miles to keep up with the 2015 challenge (I have planned 50Miles but we will see how it goes) and preparing for Marathon number 2 on February 28th.

Do you know I didn't actually watch any sports all weekend. That's new for me. I guess I'm too busy enjoying my life to look at that of others :)

You can support me by donating on http://www.mycharity.ie/event/patrick_mercies_12marathonsin12monthsin2015

Talk to you Friday, I'm planning non running events to help me with fundraising and will talk about these soon!