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In-line Marathon 2004 BLOG

 

My first BLOG entry!

13/7/04

OK, what I know about BLOGs and HTML design is well... nothing! So sorry this is such a dull blog, lacking the pizzaz of most other one's on the web, with all the fancy pants Cascading Style Sheets and the like, at least I have taken the time to do one! As this is about my training for and participation in the marathon, don't expect an entry every day, because on a rest day it would be rather dull! Anywho, I did my first Fartlek training today, whew!, was I beat! I mean, sheesh! I was well chuffed that I managed to get up the massive 10 degree hill about 4 miles away from the house, granted I collapsed at the top for a few minutes, but I made it and averaged 10.66 mph!

Caz is a great support and I am confident I will complete the marathon in one piece.

I have decided for fun I will compare some weekly stats which will include my weight and a few measurements I expect to see change after 20+ miles of skating a week, they are: Waist, Thighs, & Calfs (which I have decided to measure individually just to see if there is a difference.

So here are my personal stats at the beginning of week 1:

It will be interesting to see if they change or not... maybe dropping a few pounds will be a fringe benefit of this skate...

Second Training Session

16/7/04

Whew! Well I am beat! Another 45 minutes and another 8 miles...and another slog up that damn hill! This time I managed to go all the way up without stopping and didn't collapse at the top, so that is something! I am getting pretty anxious about this idea, but I need to keep reminding myself it's still 8 weeks away and I have 24 more sessions to put in, so I need to bear that in mind and just keep going. Caz told me she would be proud of me even if I only did a mile, so that helps, I just need to keep remembering it's for a good cause and all I can do it give it a shot and see what happens!

On the sponsorship front, it's going great! So far the total is up to £111.00 and Jamie has made a cheeky sponsorship, 50p/mile for the first half and £2.00/mile thereafter... hmmm, I wonder if he is banking on me not finishing! Well get your wallet ready mate, I will be crossing that line one way or the other...

Another LSS skate on Sunday, so between now and then I am just going to take it easy, and hope that it doesn't rain... the roads around here are horrid dry and I shudder to think what they will be like in the rain...

 

Third Training Session

18/7/04

Well another LSS skate today and guess what? It rained! I found out though that the rough surface of the roads around my village are an advantage when it rains as the grip isn't all that bad. I decided to pass on the big hill 4 miles out as it had rained a fair bit and I thought it would be pretty slippery going up, and my brake wouldn't perform all that well on the way down! Instead, I took the hill at the beginning of the road 2x.

I am finding it a bit easier going now and less anxious and starting to think that I will be able to complete what I have set out to do.

The donations are going really well and the generosity of people is brilliant. I have made a couple of posters for work so hopefully that will drum up some support as well. I took Heidi's advice and had some pasta upon my return, made by my ever loving, ever supportive Caz while I stretched out. I don't think I could do this without her support, she is fantastic! :)

That's about it for now, just going to chill out now for the evening with my honey.

I suppose it's the start of a new week so let's see if the measurements have changed at all:

 

Fourth Training Session

20/7/04

Big news! I got a shop to sponsor my effort in the form of a substantial discount on spares, bearings, wheels, etc.! Thanks Steve from Proline Skates for the support! So if you need any gear, click on the link or the logo at the top of the pages!

Out again today for another Fartlek, aka Pyramid, session. Bad timing though, as I should have gone around 1100h when I meant to, but a new toy arrived, Wireless ADSL Modem/Router and I was keen to get it set-up! It works a treat, but it meant due to an appointment, I couldn't head out until around 1630h. I will not make that mistake again! So much traffic on a normally quiet road! It's far too dangerous to be skating hard (as your stride is so wide), as not all the drivers are courteous and I worry someone will mis-judge the distance and clip me, it's OK for the LSS skate, but when I get up some speed, dodging cars is not a happy thought!

I was pretty frustrated as I couldn't skate as hard as I wanted, however, I found that the hill before the flyover is an excellent Fartlek training ground! And it's pavement, so off road, up an incline so challenging, and then back down for the trough of the training! So I plan to use this and just go up and down it for the 40minutes as opposed to taking my chances on the road.

Rest day tomorrow before Summer League play-offs Thursday, go us! Ciao for now!

 

Fifth Training Session

23/7/04

Well we lost our summer league game, 7-1, but we all still had fun, and live to play another day... :)

Another 45-odd minutes done. I am being a bit more accurate and starting my time once I get to the main road, as I consider getting there my warm-up, and then cool-down. It was a beautiful day today, and on the way out from Sawtry I was amazed how easy it seemed! I even made it up the big hill with enough energy to continue on for another 1/4 - 1/2 mile, then I turned around... and ran across 4 letters that make most inline skaters unhappy.... D - I - N - W... yup dinw!... oh sorry, I mean WIND!

It became quite apparent that the reason it was such easy going on the way out was there was a decent wind at my back, it's hard to notice it when it's blowing behind you, but coming head-on, well that's a different story! Sheesh!

It's good training though as the marathon route in Rotterdam runs along the harbour, and on some days you can some pretty heavy winds, luckily, like the wind today, when you are struggling headlong into it you can console yourself with the fact that when you are going the opposite direction on the circuit it will be at your back!

Speaking of NL, Caz and I had a really crappy stay in an Amsterdam hotel one time, and thanks to my effective complaining, we got a free deluxe suite for a night, so I reckoned, hey! Let's stay in Amsterdam the Friday before the marathon, and then in a cheaper room in the same hotel on the Saturday night and take the train to Rotterdam on the day (as the event starts at 1630h), sounds like a good idea right? I sent a fax to the hotel to make the arrangements and got back the room rate for the second night.... ready? £200!!! And that is for their 'Standard Room'!

I checked at the Westin in Rotterdam, (very nice hotel and next door to the casino!), their rate for the Saturday night... £65; can you guess where we are staying Saturday night? :) I reckoned there isn't as much point in staying in Amsterdam Saturday night as I will want to get an early night, and there is too much temptation to go and see the sights and sounds of Amsterdam, so it has worked out for the best, and we can go try and win some more money on Roulette!

That's it for now... thanks for all those who have sponsored me so far, and if you are reading this and you haven't sponsored me yet... WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? A WRITTEN INVITATION?!?

If so, click here and you can download one...

 

SixthTraining Session

25/7/04

Well out for an hour today! I was a little dissapointed to find out I had only covered 9.8 miles, but then again, it had been raining as the ground was very slick. I am chuffed in as much as I finished and really felt like I could go for another hour, which is grand!

So all seems on track.

I am a bit too tired to come up with anything clever and witty, so sorry for that. I did decide to get a vest made to both warn and educate driver. I want one of those road-worker types, with the reflective stripes and I am going to either write, or get someone to print "Caution! Raising money for Cancer Research UK, call Scott on 07740 102 246 to sponsor!", or something like that.

The other thing I want to invest in is a mirror for my helmet so I can see when a car is coming up behind me, at the moment I rely on hearing it, but it would be a lot easier to just know at a glance. I reckon there has to be something out there, and if not, I can fashion one from a dental mirror.

As I suppose it's the start of another new week, let's see if the measurements have changed at all, I think I will just do the weight from now on and leave the other measurements until after the event, too much of a hassle to measure every week!:

 

Seventh Training Session

27/7/04

Another Tuesday, another Fartlek session. These are tough! I am glad I am only doing one a week, I think anymore would kill me! My idea last week to up and down the hill worked a treat though, I was a little worried about being bored, but to be honest, I was so tired after charging up the hill, that I didn't think of it! I am going to bring water with me though for these as they are a lot more taxing that the LSS. Speaking of water, I need to work out the best way to carry some with me on the skate, if anyone has any bright ideas, mail me here .

I think the best idea is to buy a cycling shirt that has the pocket in the back, as I plan to wear my hockey jersey over it I won't look too silly in the lycra! No shorts to match though!

I also reckon I will invest in a helmet mirror, just to make it easier to see who may be coming up behind me... Oh wait I said that in the Sunday entry, oh well so sue me!

The sponsorship total is up to £259.50, so it looks like my goal of £300.00 may be a reality! I intend to hit up the Predators at their training session tomorrow... so any Preds reading this, you have been warned!

Ciao for now... and I wonder if anyone aside from Caz and I actually read this.... hmmmm, helllooo??? Anybody out there???? :)

 

Amazing Generosity!

28/7/04

The generosity of people when I approach them to sponsor me has been amazing! I went down to the Peterborough Predators training tonight and raised £67, thanks alot guys and girls! I also went into Ben Hayward Cycles in Cambridge today to pick up a well cool water/backpack (see www.camelbak.com ) and a mirror, and the woman working there was kind enough to sponsor me £5.00!

So I am sorted for safety and water now, and most importantly, I have surpassed my goal to raise £300 by £104.50 and there is still lots of time, and plenty of people to approach!

I plan to ring my mate in Canada tonight just to have a chat and I am sure he will be thrilled to see such support to help find better treatments and hopefully a cure to this scourge.

Thanks again all! I am taking Friday off as my knee is a bit sore and a mate is over from NL, so I want to show him around, but I will be back at it bright and breezy Sunday morning... along with my new mirror and water pack!

Ciao for now...

 

An injury!

1/8/04

Well I am not a happy camper! I have done something to my ankle/foot which is making walking very very painful... I have some mates over from the NL at the moment and we must have walked 10 miles around London, and I think I sprained it there or perhaps at summer league on Thursday (where I potted 4 goals!) :).

I have decided not to train today or Tuesday and see how it fares Thursday evening skating... hopefully it's the type of strain that, when supported by my skate, won't hamper my skating. I hope! :(

Otherwise my training schedule is really messed up and the marathon will be a very slow and painful experience.... so anyone reading this... think happy thoughts!

Ciao...

 

An injury! (cont)

3/8/04

Well it's confirmed, I aggravated an old sprain from summer league over the weekend, so training is off this week. I am upset, but better to miss a week now and heal, than push it and miss the whole event.

I am skipping out final summer league game as well Thursday, but will head down to lend moral support. I plan to resume training Sunday, so hopefully all will go well. I got a new sponsor today as well, the good people at 3rd Eye Mirrors have offered me one of their helmet mirrors to support my efforts and make training safer. So thanks Barbara from 3rd Eye!

So not a great week of training, but my ankle feels much better than it did Monday, so I am taking that as an encouraging sign... oh what a time for my physio to be on hols! :(

Ciao!

An injury! (cont)

14/8/04

I have now missed 7 training sessions and it looks like I will miss this Sunday coming up, and next Tuesday and Friday (I have to go to Egypt for work). So that will be a total of 10 missed sessions... :( I figure if my ankle feels weak or sore, not to push it until I see my physio. I can't get in to see her until the 24th, so potentially I will miss 11 sessions! Am I worried?..... erm..... well.... NO!

It was always going to be a case of mental determination rather than super fitness, so I can't get down on missing training, I have accepted it's better to miss training rather than miss the whole event.

I plan to train on the 23rd (probably an hour), and see how it is. I think to be on the safe side I will drop the Fartlek sessions, and just train long and slow 3 times a week in the limited time I have left before the event. It sucks as I missed my last summer league game, am missing hockey and can't train... GRRRRRRRRRRR!

Oh well, just keep on keeping on I suppose. So my blog will be quiet until the 23rd at least, so check back then!

Ciao!

An injury! (cont)

25/8/04

Well I missed last week due to Egypt, and Sunday as my ankle STILL isn't feeling right.... I plan to give it a go Friday and see how it feels, and if it's OK, great, if not, rest some more. I am still in the marathon, so anyone of you thinking your money is safe is wrong! I have invested too much time (and money) in plane tickets, water systems, mirrors and the like to quite now... so onward and upward. :) Check back on the weekend and see how Friday went and as always, think happy thoughts for me!

Ciao!

The injury saga continues! (cont)

4/9/04

Well I didn't give it go Friday in the end, just didn't have the time... and my ankle STILL isn't feeling right.... I saw my super physio Tuesday before I went to Bulgaria and got some ultra-sound on it... When she heard I hadn't trained in 5 weeks she said: "Oh I suppose you are out then", and I answeed "NO WAY!"... she thinks I am a little made, but I have to do it!

My number and chip arrived the other day, I am number 72, the chip is designed to record your time, so I can see how slow I am... :)

I know I will finish, if it takes me all night I will finish!

I plan to go for a short skate (an hour) tomorrow morning just to see how the ankle is, and hopefully it will feel alright... otherwise my physios advice of "Take lots of Ibuprofen on the day" will be the ticket... ;)

I will update again after tomorrow's skate....

Now I need to sort out the music I will listen to on the day, Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, Cake, and Little Nikita for sure.... I would love a sound clip from Finding Nemo of Dory saying "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming" to play when I am on lap 3 of 4...

:)

Ciao!

The injury saga continues, no more!!!!

5/9/04

Well I was out at 930h this morning and managed to make 10.8 miles in just over an hour and that's on average including up the crazy 10 degree hill and on rather poor surface as well! The ankle was moaning a bit, but not all that bad, so I will be fine!

I ordered new wheels and bearing from one of my sponsors, Proline Skates, so that will be the going even better as I am going up a size in wheels and got the fastest bearings they sold, ABEC 9s... So I am feeling very confident.

I will need to load up on a couple of Ibuprophen before the start, and for sure afterwards, but I am as confident as ever that I really can do this and complete the distance in the alloted time.

So it's now time to rest up, do the stretches my brilliant physio Jayne passed along and focus on the weekend upcoming. I want to work out a way to carry on my blades, as I have the dread of EasyJet loosing my bag!

Stay tuned for a post marathon review in a week's time, and to anyone reading, think happy thoughts on the 12th!

Thanks for all the support, it means and motivates me a great deal and no one deserves a bigger thanks than my other half, Caz.

She has been awesome from the beginning and never even hinted that she has any doubts that I can do it, even when I was wracked with them... so thanks darling, you have no idea how much it means... :)

Ciao!

Last pre-race Entry

5/9/04

Well faithful readers, actually does anyone read this thing???? email me and let me know if you do!

It's my last entry before the event, I am just finishing packing, double and treble checking that I have my passport and ticket confirmations. We are taking EasyJet so the skates are going with us as carry-on items! Last thing I want is to be buying new skates out there... Unforturnately, they are too big for one bag, so it's one skate each... I bet we will get some raised eyebrows at Xray!

New wheels and bearings are on, after a very blonde moment where I popped in the bearings (well crammed them in with much struggle and swearing!) tightened the screws and lo and behold the wheel wouldn't move! So I looked and saw they were 80mm/83A, as opposed to my current 78mm/82A, now I knew that the 2mm difference was in height, so that was ok as my runners had marked, max 82mm, but I thought maybe the 83A/82A referred to width... so in a panic I rang the shop, and said, help they are the wrong size.

Well, have you ever called a shop or worse, gone into one in all worried something was wrong with a product only to find out it was something really simple and obvious? And have the clerk sort of sigh and explain it, and you know what they really want to do is add, 'moron' to the end of the explanation? That was me!

It turns out that 83A refers to the hardness, and there are little things called spacers which go in-between the bearings in the wheel... ahem, these were still in my old wheels, so how dumb did I feel!

Anyway, that crisis passed, however, as I had already crammed all the bearings in the new wheels, it was wrench them out, put in the spacer, the cram them back in... so by 0200h Thursday morning I was done... :)

Sponsor total is over £500 and my future mother-in-law has been working her school for me and reckons she has another £100 to add so that makes the estimated total over £600! Thanks again to everyone for their support and I will confirm the grand totals post-event.

The MP3 player is loaded up with inspirational tunes, sorry no 'Climb Every Mountain' or 'Chariots of Fire'...

Time to get ready and head out to Luton, think happy thoughts happy readers (if there are any aside from me) and check back Monday for the post-event recap!

Ciao,

Scootter

I DID IT!

13/9/04

A very quick note as I am exhausted from just driving to Shopshire and back... more on that later...the big news is that I DID IT! I completed the marathon, a complete summary will come after I have had more sleep, but as a start, while my painkillers kick in and before I hit the wrong button on my watch and delete them... here are the lap times:

A quick word about the times, the First is from my watch, and I hit the wrong button at one point, so they are approximate, the Second is the 'official' time, is the finish time on the clock, however, as I will explain tomorrow, there was a delay of over 2 minutes from when the gun went off and when I could actually cross the line due to the crowds, the Third is my 'chip' time, is the actual time it took me to pass over the sensor mats at the start and finish lines, hence this is the most accurate.

First (My watch)

Lap 1: 30mins 11secs

Lap 2: 34mins 25secs

Lap 3: 39mins 20secs

Lap 4: 43min 45 secs

Time: 2 hrs 27 mins 41 secs

Second (Finish Time on Clock)

Time: 2 hrs 28 mins 50 seconds

Third (By Sensor, most accurate)

Time : 2 hrs 26 mins 22 secs

So the bottom line is I did it, and under the 2.5 hour cut-off! I didn't come in dead last, that was up to another bloke... so only place to go is up for next year!

Check back in a few days for a summary in agonizing detail... ;)

Ciao,

Scootter

I DID IT! PT.II

13/9/04

OK, so I promised a race summary and here it is...

The day started out very nice, not too warm, maybe +22 and partly cloudy... but it became apparent very early on that one element of the weather was against me, the wind! Now I have whinged about the wind here during my training but WOW! This was some serious wind and as the course runs along the river/harbour, there is a long stretch, approximately 6km which is unsheltered allowing the wind to run up and down it. It didn't blow perpdicular to the road, but rather parallel, so on the outward leg you had a great boost, but on the way back... MAN OH MAN!

It was some serious slogging... The first lap I paced myself to an older chap, and felt great... clocked it at just over 30 mins so I was chuffed and on pace... second lap, the lack of training began to show as I slowed a bit and began to get a little discouraged... third lap... outward super... back against the wind.. well there were times when I alsmost lost forward momentum completely, but just kept slogging along...

I had to finish my 3rd lap by 1815h as this was the cut-off imposed... as the race started at 1630h I worked out that I would need to average 35 minutes per lap... as you can see from above, my 3rd lap was almost 40minutes, so the quick first lap helped out and I just made it... I actually thought I was going to miss it as the clocks about 200m from the turnaround all were reading 1815h so I had visions of not even completing... but I made it for my last lap, and at that moment I realised I had 45minutes to finish and that I was actually going to complete this thing...

The 4th lap was very slow, as you can see, my body was just shutting down... the wind had died down a little (thank God!), but my calves were taking turns cramping... so it was skate, cramp, drink, skate, cramp, drink.... fortunately the spasms didn't amount to anything, but I did notice my back was really aching from being bent over to try and cut into the wind....

As I got out of the unsheltered area, I felt alone on the course... gone were the crowds from the 1st 3 laps, and gone were other skaters... aside from those who had passed me in the windy bit....

The remaining crowd and volunteers were great though, shouting cheers and words of encouragement to keep going...

I could now see the finish line, and noticed that I still had a couple of minutes to go, I was actually going to do it! I was going to have skated a complete marathon!

As I was more or less on my own, I had my name announced as I approached the finish (they were announcing those they could if not in a big group), and as I skated under the finish clock, all I wanted to do was cry... I was so exhausted, mentally, physically and emotionally, it was all I could do to make it to the bench to take off my skates...

I staggered out of the finish area, collected my free t-shirt... and saw Caz waiting for me... so I just gave her a big hug and cried... :)

Ahem, only for a second though, I mean sheesh I ain't no girlie man... grrrrr, probably just some damn dust in my eyes anyway...

We then went out for a nice meal and then stopped at the casino where we won €150... so all in all a pretty damn fantastic day!

As for the aftermath, my back is still killing me... my legs are sore, and I am generally wiped out... of course, shortly after arrival yesterday we drove to Shropshire and back to deliver the tele we flogged on eBay... so that didn't help!

The new one arrived today, and after Caz spending the day building the stand from Ikea, and me putting in and hooking up all the audio/video bits... we turn it on... and.... Crap! It DOESN'T WORK! MEH MEH MEH!

Ah well, I suppose better to be dead out of the box than die some weeks later... so it'll be on the phone tomorrow to get a new one sorted ASAP.

So that's it really, I suppose I digressed at the end but so what? It's my Blog! I am definately entering next years event and will be trying to top my sponsor total from this year... which is looking at topping £650 now... so not bad going for an afternoon's work...

Ciao!

Scootter

 

I DID IT! PT.III

16/9/04

As an update, there were 1350 entrants in the 2004 in-line marathon, of these 1124 finished, I was number 1123.

The biggest achievement for me is the fact that I finished my first ever marathon! So roll on 2005!

Thanks again to all who sponsored me, I will publish the grand total as soon as I collect my sponsor sheet from my mother-in-law to be...

GRAND TOTAL RAISED

1/10/04

The final numbers are in... and the total raised was.... (Imagine a drum roll)....

£636.70

A big thank-you again to everyone who contributed, and my sights are now set on 2005, so expect me to come calling sometime next year... :)

I also received my official certificate of completion today, so that is going in a frame on the wall! Check it out in the gallery if you want a closer look...