LEJOG Challenge – Lands End, England to John O’Groats, Scotland
Conquering the length of Britain: 1,083 miles. Approx HALF the distance of last year’s 2,017-mile Run challenge.
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- Lands End to John O’Groats
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- 1083 miles, the length of Britain
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- GOAL: 15 June 2018
Honestly, just surfing for an online tool to track my miles.
Was not looking for a ‘Run the Year’ replacement. Lotta miles in my 2018 future. first Half of Year GOAL: knocking out 11 states, 2nd time around – and that’s just marathoning.
PRIMARY FOCUS: Bighorn. 52-mile trail run at altitude. Saturday June 16th.
Timing of LEJOG, a perfect fit.
Completion date: 15 June 2018 – ONE day before BIGHORN. Seemed like a sign.
Registration paid, now virtually running from England to Scotland.
Ended Week 1 on a small island in southwest England, St Michaels Mount. Cornish: Karrek Loos yn Koos
St Michael’s Mount is a small tidal island in Mount’s Bay, Cornwall, England. The island is a civil parish and is linked to the town of Marazion by a man-made causeway of granite setts, passable between mid-tide and low water.
Digging the newness of a new challenge.
Expect mid-month updates (January thru June) complete with screenshots of my virtual location 🙂
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- Mile 14: Penzance
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- Mile 18.5: St Michael’s Mount
Completed my ‘Run’ miles 6 days ago, doesn’t mean I stop marathoning, right?
Cheap Southwest flight purchased many many months ago. Chose Buckeye as my December race – well before I was aware of last Sunday’s big C event in Washington state. 2 hour direct flight, landed Friday 10:30pm. Rental pickup, hour drive to my bargain hotel in Surprise (Arizona). Quick sleeps, 40 minute drive to Sun City Festival (exclusive retirement community, technically part of Buckeye 20+ miles away). Bib pickup 7am, toured the pickleball courts (Googled ‘what is pickleball?’), last minute porta-potty, 8am marathon Start. Small race, stats mostly Half participants.
Hadn’t packed so little time into an out-of-state marathon since 2015’s Wisconsin Marathon. (That event, arrived after midnight in Chicago O’Hare, crossed the Wisconsin border then car-camped ‘til race morning in Kenosha. Glam life. LOL>)
Cool desert start. Wore layers, knew it’d heat up by Finish. Unfortunately been sick all week – hadn’t run since last Sunday’s marathon. Everything already paid sooo….I’d take it slow, pace myself, not gonna PR, goal to Finish.
Three miles of suburbia, back-n-forth neighborhood roads lined with palms. Left on Sun Valley Parkway, nothing but highway – straight, next 21 miles. No getting lost today.
Mile 4: coughed up chucks of past week’s strep infection. Disgusting but better having it on the outside 🙂
Steady consistent first Half, just over 2 hours. Heat kicked UP, dropped to a walk by marker 17. Congested, more panting than breathing. Didn’t eat much all week either. Let the heat get to me, mental lapse – rapid temp change from Colorado December.
Enjoyed support from a local run group. Every 2-3 miles they’d be roadside cheering. Two of their members, Barb & Cathie caught me at mile 19. It was Cathie’s first marathon. Hung with these ladies race remainder. Super upbeat/chatty individuals. Made running alongside an empty highway much more interesting. Indebted, ladies. Many thanks.
‘Run to the Runway’ on today’s race shirts. Marathon ended at a municipal airport [runway] in Buckeye. Private airfield. Would finish surrounded by a field of parachutists. Dumb luck, but pretty cool.
Hour-half return to Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International. Just your average 20-hour December day in the Arizona desert ☼
Buckeye Marathon – Race to the Runway
Buckeye, AZ
K R Haga
Bib # 124
Chip Time
05:00:42
Half
02:07:38
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- Pickleball anyone?
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- the American Southwest
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- Shared 7 miles of Arizona desert. Indebted, many thanks.
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- 21 miles of empty highway
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- 2 marathons in 6 days
Run the Year Motto: EVERY day’s a run day, 2017 miles in 2017
GOAL COMPLETE – & almost a month early. Fulfilled last year’s challenge then 11 days into 2017, started my next 2,017 miles. Post-chemo, post-quarterly checkups…just me & the open road/trail/mountain trek/suburbia sidewalk/treadmill.
26 marathons (including one ultra). 2 more before the year is done – Buckeye Marathon this Saturday (in Arizona) & a 50K trail run in rural Indiana (yep, trail in December). My LIFE addiction.
Biggest highlights: 2-week/EVERY day RUN adventure in New Zealand & of course, Marathon #100 in Ireland.
Tally:
104 marathons (including 4 ultras)
- 97 US, 4 Canada, 1 Ireland, 1 New Zealand, 1 Russia
- All 50 States, 21 States x2 (gonna circle the US again by 2019 year-end)
- 3 continents (depending where you place NZ) – marathoning all 7 by mid-2020 (including Antarctica)
- Streak: 49 consecutive months
Not gonna ‘Run the Year’ in 2018…but there’ll be challenges ahead.
Bighorn 2018.
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- 2017 miles — GOAL!
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- one year after chemo 🙂
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- Milestone 2000
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- 2017 Milestone – SUCCESS!
Run NZ – Franz Josef Glacier
Run NZ – Cape Wanbrow Reserve, Oamaru
