YES I had done it I had agreed to do a Marathon the thought alone of 26.2 miles filled me full of absolute dread, 13.1 was hard enough without doing it over again I just couldn't contemplate it.
I did things the hard way as I wasn't convinced with energy gels so decided I would skip them a choice I later rectified as I was too learn more about nutrition.
I decided that Marathon training was a massive commitment and I would quit alcohol until the marathon was done. This would be 4 full months without a drink including my birthday. I stopped drinking on the start of January 1st.
I did many events and it was a massive help other friends from my running club were training for their first Marathons John (Barcelona) and Steph (London) this meant we could meet for training runs and share our fears.
Race day came about quite quickly but it wasn't a nice day for running 3 miles let alone running 26.2 miles it was very windy, torrential rain and parts of the course where flooded strangely this just made me just want to get on with it.
I ran it all and finished in 4:29 which given the conditions was a great run. Anyone running on that day will tell you how bad it was! and to let you in on a little secret I did have my first few pints of 2012 to celebrate ;-) but 4 months of no alcohol and marathon running don't mix very well and it went straight to my head.
After my 2nd marathon in Edinburgh which again wasn't great conditions it was extremely hot and I did 4:42, I then had a relaxed few months in June and July before doing entering Dublin Marathon for the October.
In late August i was having an innocent conversation down the pub with a friend (Les) one night when he asked "what next's after all the Marathons?" I mentioned I was thinking 2013 I might try and get into this triathlon lark within a few week I would get an email saying "Ewen, I've entered us into the Cotsworld Sprint Triathlon"
What the .... yep he had gone ahead and put us on a waiting list for a frigging sprint triathlon, because a friend at work was doing it and had challenged him (Marty McFly style). I thought odds on it won't happen anyway waiting lists have a use ... until I got a phone call saying transfer your money tonight and your in!.
Damn the race was on the Sunday and this was the bloody Wednesday and not only had neither of us any experience of triathlon both of us had never even swam in the open water that couple with only being able to swim breaststroke was a major concerns. Turns out this wasn't the novice 400m tri no that would be too sensible of a starting place for Les so instead this was a jaw dropping 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run. Well at least the run is sorted out! the swim had be very nervous indeed.
Race Day was the 2nd Sept 2012 and was so different to a running event in terms of atmosphere. The Swim was a very nervy experience I tried to do Freestyle but just didn't work so I went with breaststroke (or my unique arms only variant) this got me thru and I thought game on. I finished in 1:23:39. Swim: 19:40, Bike: 36:12, Run: 23:19.
This was a great experience the multi discipline and the raw energy of the swim was just amazing. It is strange how things turn-out but this pushed me to do something ahead of myself and I loved every minute of it and I think I was hooked.
So with 1 Sprint triathlon done I was fully aware of the other event types Olympic, Half Ironman (middle distance), Ironman (long distance) so 2013 the plan was let's do a few more sprints and an Olympic in 2013 with a view to maybe Ironman 70.3 2014 and Ironman 2015 a fairly nice and simple progression perfect for a sensible person such as myself and especially as I couldn't swim 50m free-style and wasn't using cleats yet on my road bike. How things change quickly based on a combination of me and so called friends!
I get a text from Steph, she was already very into triathlon and an excellent swimmer informing me that Ironman entries are opening and that it will sell out pretty quickly and that she is going to do it and would I be interested, we could after all train together and it would keep us both motivated. This made me think back to marathon training and how that was easier because others were in the same boat. I went back and forth with reservations and then I thought about it. "Ewen, nobody thought you could ever do a Marathon and you did it, in-fact you've done 2 already" so in a moment of sheer madness I signed up before I came to my senses.
So on Sept 12th 2012 I signed up to Ironman UK in Bolton without being able to swim freestyle, limited road cycling experience however I had ran a marathon so at least 1 discipline I had a grounding in. I kept my entry secret for quite a while and swore Steph to not tell anyone.
2012 ended with 2 really great events I had managed to get in thru the ballot for the Great North Run to most people this is a big running event but to me being local and from Amble,Northumberland this was a massive event. No PB but a 1:53 run and I was very happy as the experience was out of this world
*(I'm on the far right if you want to play Where's Ewen AKA Where's Wally)
The 2012 final event was to be the Dublin Marathon my 3rd but this was special it was in Dublin a place I'd visited many times before on my journey to 24st so it was quite apt that I'd return to run a Marathon and it was also John's home town Marathon and the first Marathon event all 3 of us (Me,Steph, John) would be taking part in since our training for our first together.
Dublin has to be the best Marathon I've ran it ends just outside City Centre with plenty of transport and the atmosphere is fantastic, massive field of runners 13,000+, great medal and also for those partial to a drink it is held on the Monday of a bank holiday weekend so an opportunity to see the sights of Dublin on a Saturday.
I ran a 4:17:30 PB which made me very happy and was a great end to the year.
