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Second update: Oxford half marathon, 25 September 2011:

The race in Karlsruhe went fairly well, and my left foot is not too bad, which leaves me out of excuses for not running the Oxford race! However, having run the fourth consecutive half marathon under 2h, but not under 1:50h feels a bit like reaching four consecutive Grand Slam semifinals, but not winning a single of those Grand Slam tournaments! Drastic measures are thus required, and I decide to hire a personal trainer. Bjorn Beckmann is known for his unorthodox training methods, and it is rumoured that Andy Murray, the tennis player, has also recently hired him in preparation of the 2012 tennis season. In spite of his reputation as being somewhat unconventional, I am surprised that Beckmann wants me to fit in an intensive training session on the evening before the race. After arriving at Walton Well Road Gym in the heart of Oxford, I am even more surprised, as the training session seems to mainly consist of carrying a large number of heavy crates, boxes and suitcases from the third floor to a car parked outside the house. Finding this a bit odd, I ask him, and it turns out that he did develop this particular work-out years ago when he discovered by chance the fitness effects of moving house.

On race day morning, my prospects in terms of a good final ranking are immediately boosted. The race organisers have to ensure that no car traffic interferes with runners going on the 13.1 mile lap, and they go about their business very efficiently. Nearly 1/3 of the contestants get caught up so badly in traffic jams prior to the race that they cannot reach Kassam stadium in time.

Then the race starts. As usual I start at the tail end of the crowd, because it gives me a good feeling, being able to overtake contestants who are even slower than me. At the mile2 mark, I overtake a runner in full military gear, who carries a seemingly very heavy army rucksack. He bears an uncanny resemblance to Andy Murray, but this is probably a side-effect of the pain medication which I had to take again (see previous race report below). In any case, I am glad I did not sign a longer-term contract with Beckmann, and the incident clearly demonstrates that the right clothing can play a big role when doing road races.

Mile after mile I manage to run in about 8min per mile, and my decision to enrol in the Beckmann Boot Camp is vindicated when I cross the finish line after 1h:47min:59sec (resulting in 3h:43min:42sec for my "marathon in two halves"). Such extraordinary achievements are deserving of extraordinary rewards, and I certainly find mine when opening the goodie bag that each finisher receives, in the form of a free copy of "Women's Running" magazine, and an invitation to join the Oxford Brookes University Gym at a reduced rate!

Karlsruhe half marathon, 18 September 2011: Starting off on the wrong "footing"!
On the morning of Sunday 18 September there is a big question mark hanging over my charity challenge. After waking up with a swollen left heel on Saturday morning, brought on by a table tennis practice on Friday night (laughable, I know, unless you experience it yourselves!), I could only hobble for the whole of Saturday, and the situation has hardly improved by the time the race is supposed to start on Sunday morning. However, because of the generous sponsorship already received it is no longer possible for me at this point to back out, not to mention the prospect of being endlessly taunted by my office mate Michele for the next 27 ahem 32 years until retirement...
There is only one option left on the morning of the race: self-administration of a previously untested experimental cocktail of metamizole sodium and a couple of prescription painkillers. I feel like standing on the shoulders of giants of past medical research such as JBS Haldane, Albert Hofmann and Timothy Leary!
Then the race starts. To begin with, I run very slowly, but the pain more and more subsides, and I begin to run faster.
As far as I can tell the drug cocktail has no side effects. At km10 I break through the sound barrier, and at km 13, when going past the Zoological Institute where I dissected my first rat, very vivid - and at the same time surprisingly fond - memories re-surface.

Then there is a critical situation at km 20: Anyone missing the right turn at this point has to continue on the "full marathon" option, rather than doing the half marathon. Tempting as it is, and although I feel absolutely invincible at this point, this would technically mean failing my charity challenge of a "marathon of two halves", and with a heavy heart, I decide to turn right.
As I pass the km21 mark, my confidence in being able to go the full distance today begins to grow somewhat. After 1h:55min:43sec and 21.1km of running, I cross the finish line, beating my fiercest competitor, Samwel Maswai from Kenya, who committed the strategical blunder of not turning right at the km20 mark, by nearly 17 1/2 minutes!

The challenge:

The challenge I have set myself has evolved from the classic "seven marathons on seven continents" idea. However, a lot of people have done that one already, and I felt that I had to come up with something more daring. Therefore, I am going to run two half marathons over two consecutive weekends in two different countries. On 18 September 2011 I will be doing the half marathon at the Baden-Marathon event in Karlsruhe, Germany, and on 25 September I will be doing the Oxford half marathon. To the uninitiated this may possibly appear less daunting than "seven marathons on seven continents", but in fact this particular challenge involves enormous mental arithmetic, first having to run a race on the righthand side of the road signposted in kilometres, followed almost immediately by a race on the lefthand side of the road signposted in miles. Any seasoned long-distance runner can tell you how important it is to pace yourself properly in a race, and we all have heard stories such as "NASAs metric confusion caused Mars orbiter loss". You get the idea...(if not, then have a look at photo no. 2).

 

The cause:

On a more serious note, the runners will not be the only people on the streets of Oxford on 25 September. Unless they get help, homeless people are there all year round, 24h each day.

Oxford Homeless Pathways (http://www.oxhop.org.uk/) provide a range of services for homeless and recently homeless people, helping them to tackle the issues that have led them to become homeless, and to build their confidence, develop new skills and put in place plans that will support them to change their life. They also manage Oxford Homeless Medical Fund which funds Luther Street Medical Centre where homeless people in Oxford can get medical care.

Please donate to Oxford Homeless Medical Fund. Any amount will help!

 

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