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Tuesday: 15 Km

I'm back from my first run in 2½ weeks. My initial title for this weeks blog was 'What not to eat for lunch before a run' - but I guess that everyone else than me knows that eating 3 samosas, 3 pork sausages, a chapati and a Mars bar 4 hours before a run is not a good idea. So I'll concentrate on other, hopefully less obvious and more interesting issues.

Sunday is the big day. 42,195 meters in the hills of Kampala is no small challenge, not something to be taken lightly. I look forward to it with equal parts excitement and dread. I'm dreading the last 10 kilometers. They are going to be tough. Time wise I'm satisfied with anything under 4:30, and very happy if I make it under 4 hours. Am I ready? Mentally, yes. Fitness wise, not really. Another 3-4 weeks of training would have been ideal. To be honest, I'm expecting that by the time I cross the finish line the guy on the photo will look like a turbocharged Duracell rabbit in comparison.

My strategy for the run is straight forward. The first half I hope to run with Ole and/or Alex, provided they are not too fast..... or too slow. I'd like to run it in around 2 hours. From there I'll be on my own - and that suits me fine, I'd rather not have anybody I know next to me when it starts to get tough. Hopefully I'll make it past the 32 kilometer mark before it gets ugly. And once the fatigue sets in, I'll just have to lower the pace a bit and suck it up. No matter how hard it gets, Comrades is bound to be a lot worse.

So, it's time. It's show time. It's time to pay the price for lack of training. It's time to man up and get it done with. I hope I've got what it takes.

Ad finem.

Marathon Madsen