After a bit of a delay I'm now going post my aims for the next 18 months, the subject of the blog is my progress towards my first marathon but given the competition for time and energy with other goals, such as academic success and other sporting goals, it seems wise to make a general list of goals here.
1. Finish my first marathon in a time I can be proud of.
This is a very vague target, and it has been the target since I started this blog (as you can see from the banner text). I guess this is a good moment to settle on what I would be proud of. I think anyone that runs a marathon in less than four hours has done something pretty special. I would imagine that anyone of my age that plays sport regularly and isn't majorly overweight with two or three months training could get round a half marathon in under two hours, but to keep up that effort for another two hours is a major undertaking.
Though four hours is good, if I'm honest, and trying not to be cocky about it, I think I am better than that so now to look at it from the other side, find an impossible benchmark and work back from there. A 3 hour marathon would be great, it would mean being in the top 1,000 runners, but given that as yet I haven't managed a 1hr 30 half marathon right now it would be an impossible goal. So going smack bang in the middle of the two, I think if I finished in 3hr 30 I would be happy, based on last year's results it would put me in the top 4,000, and it would mean running 5:00 per kilometre, which is a pace I'm fairly comfortable with. Given the pace of my training runs, I would say 3hr 15 isn't impossible but still very ambitious. So after all that babbling on I think I've got a conclusion:
My time to be proud of: 3hr 30
My time to be delighted with: 3hr 15
2. To reach my target for marathon fundraising of 1,000 pounds for UNICEF.
3. Successfully complete this academic year and make a good start to my thesis.
I knew before I came over to Alicante that should I be successful with my studies, I would get a PhD when I was the wrong side of 30, I have to have as an aim to make sure I do get it, and in the shortest time I possibly can.
4. Summit on one of the seven summits.
This may need a little bit of explaining. The seven summits are the highest peaks in each of the seven continents, the list is as follows:
Asia - Mount Everest 8,848m
South America - Aconcagua 6,962m
North America - Mt. McKinley 6,194m
Africa - Kilimanjaro 5,892m
Europe - Elbrus 5,642m
Antarctica - Vinson Massif 4,892m
Australia (in Papua New Guinea) - Puncak Jaya 4,884m
The mountains on the list that I'm mostly likely to attempt in the not too distant future are Aconcagua (its summit is on the border of Chile and Argentina, the mountain is trekkable from the Chilean side and I have another good reason to go to Chile) and Kilimanjaro. Neither of the two are easily accessible, but they are a good deal more accessible than the other five.
5. Finish a second marathon or complete a triathlon.
I've read the warning many times in marathon advice literature that its wise to be prepared for a come down, and when you get to the finish you enjoy the massive high of finishing, but then it hits you after, so what am I going to do now? I figure after London I'll give myself a month without doing much before picking a new target based on how I enjoyed the marathon and how my swimming and cycling progress.
6. Not to become so running obsessed that my girlfriend gets sick of me!
7. To climb all the mountains higher than 1,000m in the province of Alicante.
I've done one so far, and as far as I know there are six. My main problem for this is finding someone else that wants to go up them with me, preferably someone with a car as most of the routes start from the middle of nowhere.
8. Run a half-marathon in 1:29:** .
Its a meaningless target, but its one that is fixed in my head so I'll make sure I get this year.
I think that just about covers everything. Fingers crossed in eighteen months I can come back to look at this list and say I achieved them all.
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