Sundown, signed up!

My training is looking pretty rosy for the week so far. I'm really getting into the running thing again and my foot is responding quite well to the instruction it now faces, to bear my weight again. I can't blame the foot for complaining a little, it's more weight than most have to carry, but in general, apart from a few 'twangs' it feels almost as good as before.

Although I have loads of friends, honestly... ok 3, who say they will comment on the blog, they never do. So I am inviting any lost physios or previously broken footed runners to tell me what the hell is going on with this 'twang'. It's a weird feeling, it doesn't hurt but literally feels like someone is pinging a double base along the side of my foot. Assuming it is ligament related and hopefully not permanently damaging, I decided to keep running on it like any sensible educated young man would.

So the week so far. I managed 2.15 on Saturday which is the longest single run I have done since I broke the foot. Not much in time or distance, but I did manage to run to the peak up old peak road. Anyone who has walked up it knows it's pretty steep, so to get 16 stone running up it pleased me no end.

This week I signed up for the Sundown Marathon in Singapore, 100k overnight. For anyone who hasn't been before, Singapore is bloody hot and humid so I imagine it would have to be overnight. There are no seasons in Singapore, it's either bloody hot and raining or bloody hot and sunny. Sometimes it is bloody hot and about to rain. Suffice to say seasonal variety in the weather is lacking. Or, once a day for about 10 hours, it's night time. So we run at night. Should be tough, but a good motivator to get in shape before UTMB.

I signed up for the Sundown Marathon with a great friend of mine, John 'Panda' Key. We did Atacama together last year, which was tough, but a one dayer should be more of a laugh. I say we did Atacama together, John was actually about 10 hours faster than me, but we did at least sleep in the same tent. His training had been much more committed than mine, but I am hoping his commitment to steak and red means I won't be humiliated too badly this time around. Surely it's impossible to be beaten by 10 hours on a 100k, so I am hoping to see improvement!

As a prelude to the race we entered into a massive endurance effort on Sunday. We set off around midday and I wrapped up around 6pm, John carried on until 7.45 apparently. I believe the stats of this particular session were somewhere around several bottles of red each, lamb, steak and a couple of beers. To test myself, I ate nothing green. I did it! We really but the pedal down, pushed on past our limits and when the going got tough, we put our heads down and just carried on. Sterling stuff eh? (sorry for the panda bit, the Korean thought John looked just like a big panda on Christmas day, post lunch, I need to get my own back for getting whupped every race somehow!)

So, 2 and a half months, inclusive of the rugby 7's, to prepare for my first 100k race since last July. I'm looking forward to it already. The week so far:

Saturday- 13 hilly miles
Sunday- um... 7000 calories
Monday- 7 miles and a little groggy
Tuesday- 5.3 miles, including 6x30 second hill sprints
Wednesday- 7 miles (felt shockingly awful after sprint session on Tuesday, is this normal?)
Thursday- worked late, burger and 2 glasses or pinot noir, 1 Cab Sav. At least it's not beer right? Antioxidants? No, ok.
Friday- planned 13 miles

Funnily enough, Krupicka's blog is entitled 'infirm' and he has run further than me. You've got to laugh, I felt quite proud!

In current affairs I saw the Dalai Lama retired from politics today. A real shame as I thought he stood a real chance against the con dems by the next general election.