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In-line Marathon 2005 BLOG

I did it... 2 hours 3 minutes 51 seconds and total sponsorship raised £1060...

My first BLOG entry!

25/06/2005

Well I have decided to do it again, try another marathon. I am registered, flights are booked and so is the hotel.

I went for my first skate today, 45 minutes, and aside from an achy back, it felt pretty good!

Caz is, as always, a great support and I am confident I will complete the marathon in one piece again. I have decided to set a high target this year for sponsorship, £1000! I am planning to pester the local papers to see if I can't get them to do a small piece, which I am hoping will raise more funds, and also, so locals will know why there is a guy on inlines going up and down the B1090!

30/7/2005

I am back... :) Cancer Research UK has kindly issued a press release, of course, to whom this release goes I have no idea, but if it helps raise more sponsorship fantastic! I have been for one other skate since my first, circumstance ranging from a weekend recuperating from my near miss on the 7th bombings in London, to recuperaring from a small operation have meant I haven't trained anywhere near as much as I had hoped. I am a little anxious about it, but then again, last year I hardly trained due to injury and finished, so I know I will do it again this year. I am hopefull for a skate tomorrow if all goes to plan.

16/8/2005

OK, it's been a while and I actually thought no one read this BLOG, and then I found out that my mate Doug reads it so if for no one else, I'll update this more often (you're welcome Douggie!)

Anywho, I have had 3 skates now (and one bike session due to rain), two 60 minute & one 70 minute and it's getting better and better. I have worked out that I need to average around 11mph in order to finish in 2 hours and 25 minutes, which would beat last year by a minute or so.

My speed's being increasing each time, and yesterday was around 9.75 mph, which is an improvement of one mph over the first skate, so with 7 more training skates planned I am confident.

I have gotten some press as well, both the Cambridge Evening News and the Peterborough Evening Telegraph have done a piece on the fund raising, the ET article is here. A mate from Convergys is also trying to get me on local BBC TV or Radio, so that would be cool, the advertising has paid off as my neighbours just sponsored me £40 from reading the article in the ET.

As I am now on 'garden leave' from work, which means I am being paid my months notice period but don't have to work (I know, life is tough! ;) ), so I have lots of time to train.

That's it for now, so in the words of Stan Lee, "See you next time dear reader!"

24/8/2005

Well no training yesterday as my back was sore for some reason, and today it was chucking it down with rain! Sunday was a day on the bike, and hopefully, weather permitting, I will be on the road again tomorrow. my new wheels and bearing arrived so I am looking forward to having an extra 2mm on race day.

On the plus side, I managed to get the first chapter of my book written! Yippee... it could be that no one but my mates get to read it, but what the heck, I finally started it...

25/8/2005

Whew! 75 minutes today and a little slower than last time, but I put that down to a week off skating, and a pretty good wind... I am glad I went though as later in the day the heavens opened up and it would have been awful to be out in that wet.

I stopped in at the local petrol station later in the day to top up our courtsey car, and in chatting to the lady there, she mentioned seeing me skating past. When I told her it was for Cancer Research UK, she gave me £20 in addition to my change for the petrol, so now I only have another £33 to go! Yahhoo! £1000 is definately in sight.

Anywho, back home to have a sandwich and finish watching Law & Order... then maybe start chapter 2 on my book.

29/8/2005

My longest skate yet, 13 miles, or half the distance! My time wasn't brilliant, however; on the day I won't be worrying about tractors, cars or vans trying to run me off the road... :)

Not to mention an absolutely horrid road surface! Things are looking good and after speaking to my wise cousin Ronald in the Netherlands, I am going to train once maybe twice more, easier 60 minute skates, and then rest until the day.

I also got chapter 2 of my book written, it needs a little editing but that's ok, hopefully I can get a rough manuscript together by the end of the year.

2/9/2005

Well I picked up some Carb Loading Powder on the advice of one of the chaps on my hockey team. He reccommended loading up on carbs for 3 days prior to the event and that this Carb Powder was a good way to do it. The musclely clerk at the store was very helpful, and I ended up buying a massive tub of the stuff as it was the best value... as I only need 2 scoops in a water bottle I am sorted for the next 20 years of marathons! :)

He reccommended carb loading through diet as well, as the powder is very fast acting, whereas food will be a slower release. He has said in the 3 days before the event I should be having some carbs in some form or other every 3 hours, sheesh! He also made the very good suggestion of putting carb powder in with my gatorade on course, to help maintain my levels and not peter out half way through the race.

I decided to try out my new wheels, and discovered that the third one along doesn't fit, so I tried to use a 82mm, 82mm, 80mm, 82mm combination. It was crap! Added to that the fact that without spacers I can't tighten the wheels completely or the don't turn, so I was clicking and wobbling for the whole hour today.

I have ordered the same wheels I skated on last year, so that should be ok. I am going to look at new skates in Rotterdam, however; unless I can find a pair that are incredibly comfy, it may be suicidal to try and skate 26 miles on skates which haven't been broken in yet.

As you can see from the scrolling announcement on the home page I am only £18 away from my goal of £1000, so fingers crossed I will hit my target next week.

There will be one last blog entry pre-race, then check back on the 13th to see how I got on...

13/9/2005

Woo hoo! Mission accomplished! I don't know the official times yet, times as there is one from the chip and one from the clock (there is a difference as the clock goes from the starting gun, however; as it's a pack start, there is a delay befoe you actually pass the start line, which is recorded by a small chip, which also passes over a sensor at the finish).

From memory, I think it was just under 2 hours and 6 minutes, which is a 22 minute improvement over last year! 2 things made the difference... New skates and figuring out what a difference drafting makes. I took a big risk and bought new skates Saturday and used them Sunday, for anyone reading this who has skated before, I can hear you sucking in air as you cringe at the thought... for those of you who don't skate, skates generally need a break in period as do new shoes, and sometimes there is a wear in period. Luckily for me, these new skates, Fila World Cup 90s were like slippers so there were no problems.

And my time was... drumroll please...

02:05:28 (Official)

02:03:51 (Chip)

655 (Place)

That means I beat last year by:

23 minutes 22 seconds (official)

22 minutes 31 seconds (chip)

and moved up 198 places!

WOW!

And to top it all off the official sponsorship total raised was....

£1045

So thanks to all my sponsors, and thanks to everyone who was so supportive during training, and the most important thank-you goes to Caz, she never had a moment of doubt and was there when I was down after training and thinking I was too slow, and always ready to tell me I could do it. She is a star and I couldn't have done it without her.

So until next year, thanks everyone!

Ciao,

Scootter

13/9/2005

OK so it's no quite next year, but I forgot to comment on drafting... duh!

If you ever see cyclists or even race car drivers, you will notice them following very close to one another, the reason for this is to 'draft' or essentially travel in the calm air which is immediately behind them. I had seen alot of the other more professional looking skaters doing this, travelling in a group of three or four, in what I now know is called a 'paceline'. I discovered the amazing difference by accident... it was the start of my third lap and I really didn't think I was going to finish, I was just pooped... on the way back in I was following behind another chap and noticed that the wind had dissappeared and it was alot easier to keep going, so I cheekily stuck behind him for the next lap and a half, and what a difference!

I realise now that it may be poor etiquette as I didn't take my turn in the front of the chap, but I will save that for next year... :)

Anywho, it was really cool and I will definately do it again next year...

Interestingly enough, my speed really didn't improve all that much, as I did my first 2 laps in 30 mins each, however; the drafting on the last lap definately made the going easier. Now all I have to do it work out how to not end up with a tremendously sore back by the mid-point and I think I will be able to break the 2 hour barrier next year.

So really, now it's time to sign off until next year.

01/10/2005

A quick update.. photos are up! Both from the marathon here and from our great trip to the zoo here. And the total raised was actually £1060. Yahoo!