The north pole marathon is 4 weeks ahead and I am happy to say that I am feeling good. Really good. It took quite some time to reach this point after my injury in december which threw me back by weeks as I had to restart the length of my runs at 30 to 40 minutes. Today my left knee is back again at 90% and I am leaving the valley of uncertainty with a solid pace.
The long trainings are getting even longer now. The one yesterday was a late evening 2 1/2 hours moderate ride followed by a “backpacked” 2 hours run with 220m elevation gain in the last 20 minutes. I’ve started to love these late evening/night runs. Without a head lamp it feels a bit like crossing dark no-mans-land to hit the city to become a backpacked alien running along the city lights to finally push my heavy body slowly up the hill. It’s a ritual for brain and body. And once I’ve reached my destination there is that certainty that I’m getting stronger, running at lower heart rate and that my legs are doing what they have to do: running, even when they are tired.
But the real challenge of the next 4 weeks will be my actual workload. I have to find the right balance between family, work and training. Otherwise I’ll loose my motivation. A free mind, a lot of fun and mental strength will be my key factors for a great and positive experience on the 9th of April. And the event is coming closer and closer. The community among the 48 participants from 22 countries is growing daily on Facebook. Yesterday I’ve received a pic from Ali Wehbi, a famous lebanese long distance runner called “The Lebanese Desert Runner”. He’s doing some of his trainings on a threadmill in a cool storage house. What crazy guys we are.
@fight inner weak 