Quite a long one! First Double Marathon...

11 July

Went completely crazy today. Set the alarm for 0245, set off running after a light breakfast at 0315! Yes, 0315. Headed east in the dark and ran the first 10k of the route to Hythe then turned south and looped along the Green Chain walk back to Crystal Palace and home for second breakfast at around 0645, with 30k under my belt.

Headed out again after refuelling on avocado, cereal and lots of juice and did my normal marathon route, up to Greenwich, Isle of Dogs, Canary Wharf then along the river to Hyde Park, round that and back to Dulwich. Stopped off in Pret for a tuna sandwich!

Got home to fuel up again at about 72k. Sooo wanted to stop there, but didn't and armed with a banana went back out to do gentle loops of Dulwich Park until I got to 80k then gingerly walked home, having covered an amazing 84.4 kilometres, or a double marathon!

If you had told me two years ago I would run two marathons back to back I would have said never. Can't really believe I got it done today. Moving time was 9hrs, 33mins, but there were a lot of stops for refuelling - so total time on the road was more like 10hrs 15mins.

My strategy, apart from not killing myself was to keep pace very slow, about 7mins 30 per kilometre, which meant I more or less ran for 600m and then walked 400m. I probably didn't actually do it that neatly once, but instead ran the downs and flats, walked anything which was remotely uphill (even the most pathetic of inclines!) and when I just felt I was getting too hot. Heat was a problem today and it was draining to just be on my feet that long.

The impact - well, I'm not feeling fresh as I type this at 10pm - but then I haven't had much sleep. My right foot is very sore and I feel like I've run two marathons. I wasn't totally broken at the end though. On the big day I will need to cover another 35k ish. I'm not saying I could have done it - certainly not running, but I think I probably could have walked an additional 35k today if I'd had to - I suspect in cooler weather I'd feel a lot better too. It was 25C when I finished the run, though to be fair I did a lot when it was rather cooler.

The pacing worked, no blisters, I didn't chafe, and all in all I feel like the concept is proved. 120k, whilst very, very, very hard - is, doable. I think... One key learning is that the further you go into these long runs the more difficult staying properly hydrated becomes. Presumably that was tough today because it got hotter and hotter. It'll be worth having some hand helds in the car though in case our range begins to drop towards the end. Also - my feet are tougher than my shoes - they need replacing - will do that soon so I can run them in over the summer.

I might take a day or two off...