Is it the end of the road for our two good-spirited gents? Or just the end of my endless hill puns? Somehow, I think this blog has grown some legs and not just in the muscle department. Either way, this has been an incredible achievement by these absolute legends. Well done Colin and Kieren!
And just remember, whatever the future holds, Colin will be there to use hand directions to keep them both on course.
James Jenkins
Colin and Kieren’s Story
As we enter June and the final 2 weeks of our mountain marathon journey, we start to taper our runs, which basically means that we have a 2 week holiday in comparison to the rest of the training!
On the 2nd of June, we are joined by Doug and Matt on a very wet 8½ km easy run, no watching the pace, just a steady conversational run. On Saturday 6th June, I took my mum and dad down to Oak Hill Parkrun near Enfield. I was supposed to be going easy, but the lure of the flat route and the tarmac path led me to my second fastest 5km parkrun of the year. Kieren was sensible and stuck to the gym sessions. 7th June, we organised a social 8km run and were joined by Josh, John, James, Tia, Sam and Sophie. Kieren had one more easy 4km on the Monday and I opted for a 4.5km interval session on the Wednesday.
That brings us to the 13th June. THE LIECHTENSTEIN ALPIN MARATHON
Kieren is up in the hotel gym before 7am, while I’m adjusting my race bib for the 9th time, trying to convince myself this will all be over by 3pm!
This marathon has a 7-hour cut-off time to finish and we knew that with our training we shouldn’t go past the 6-hour mark.
The previous day had been overcast and chilly, but race day was completely different. As we stood waiting for the starting pistol at 9am, it was already 20+ degrees and clear blue skys. We were approached by Stuart who introduced himself… “I’m also from Ipswich” he said. He was doing the half marathon and has his own goal of completing an alphabet of half marathons, today collecting his ‘L’.
The first 10km was easy, a sensible pace sandwiched between all the other runners from all 4 races. We chatted with anyone and everyone, luckily most Europeans speak English. A highlight was 2 lads from Lowestoft who were doing the half marathon. They were close by for the majority of our first half until they raced off to beat their sub-3-hour target
The scenery was incredible and made every kilometre enjoyable until around the 32 km mark. The highest, steepest climb came into play. We had approximately 5km of rocky hills, narrow paths and low shaded trees; the only thing to look at was our feet as we tried not to stumble.
As we reached the highest aid station at about 37km we start to descend the mountain slightly, we see the finish line and hear crowds, we look at each other and say, if this is all downhill from here, then it’ll be an easy finish.
Our pace accelerates as we go downhill. And the crowds ahead are getting louder and just as we enter Malbun, the marshals direct us away…towards not one, but 2 more hills. We had to do a lap around the outskirts of the town. A little disappointed at first but we couldn’t help but be all smiles when we eventually bounced across the finish line in 5 hours and 16 minutes.
The following Sunday at 9pm we joined Josh and Sean for the new 21x21x21 challenge, which is 21km at 21:00 on the 21st June, a summer solstice run.
And just for fun at the end of the month on the last Sunday, we each rolled a dice and ran the corresponding number in kilometres. We each rolled a 5, so we had to run 10km.
So what’s next?
In the final month of training, I started to think this would be my first and last marathon. We trained hard and it was the hardest thing I’ve physically put myself through. But I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and we have both already started looking for the next mountain challenge. In the meantime, I have the Ipswich half marathon, Boss Hog mud run and a Hyrox to train for, plenty to see the year out!
We know things are pretty tight. Even if you are reading this then we already appreciate your support. But if you can spare a few pennies to support this great cause, it would be greatly received. If not, how about sharing this story with someone else?
Thank you! From all of the Pigs x
https://www.justgiving.com/page/colin-woodgate-1?utm_medium=FRu0026amp;utm_source=CL
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