From Satan to Santa ... what a year...

This time last year was HellRunner, the very cold muddy trail run at freezing temperatures. In fact I swear I have the mud ingrained in my soul after that race. With all the races I could do last year, I missed out on the SantaJog back in Basingstoke which is 5k in a santa suit - so in 2011 it's time to fix it.

Also, this week my car has been a bit sick so it's out with the bike for the commute to work; which is about 20k per day (with a train journey in the middle). I'm hoping that it'll be good training for the Coast-to-Coast next year (boy that's a lot of training), so actually getting back to running as kind of odd.

A 'Santarama' taken before the race.

The race was fun, and watching a couple of hundred Santas doing a warm-up must be a youtube classic.

I came in about 10th, with a new personal best of about 24mins for a 5k in costume; but I haven't been running for a while, and today I really felt it in my knees, even though the legs seemed strong - they had lost some of their bounce.

So, no more excuses, I need to get some more running miles in.

2012 ... The cunning plans commence ...

Breath in .... breath out ... and relax.

I just signed up for my biggest challenge yet the 'Coast to Coast challenge'. Its a two day event where you end up crossing Scotland by bike, foot and kayak (I get to row down Loch Ness - wow!). The course is just over 100 miles long (eek) which seemed so much smaller before I clicked 'Purchase' on the web-site...
This is going to involve a whole lot of running and bike training and I really must learn how to use a kayak - as I made a complete twit of myself in a RatRace a couple of years ago.

I found that training for the London Marathon this year was a great thing to focus on, and I was looking for another different challenge to look at. I suppose it's all part of the 'Can I do an IronMan (or that type of thing) before I'm 40?' challenge I though about a couple of years ago, and since I still swim like a lead-lined brick then the distance swimming is not really for me. I read about this race earlier in the year, and had my life not paused due to the death of my best friend I would have run it this year, and maybe in a weird way I'm celebrating Damon's Scottish roots by running this race, or maybe i'm reading too much into it.

Don't worry, I haven't sold out - I'm still running and taking part in various races, and it seems Scotland is the place to be in 2012, as I've also signed up for the Edinburgh Marathon too (as a human this time, no furry suit).  The gorilla suit is making a comeback though as i'm running the Reading Half as Gerald again and there is also a hope (please please please) to get into the New York marathon for 2012 - where I promise I will don the  gorilla suit again and run the whole race with a blonde Barbie doll - as it would seem right to run as King Kong in that city. But, I won't find out about it until next year anyway.

That's it for tonight - now to figure out where I left the tent ...