Run no 3 - 2 miles

Lovely evening and plenty of fantastic 80's cheese to keep me going; 'Heart on Fire' and 'Burning Heart', superb.

Mile 1 was absolutely fine although trying to keep the pace down is hard. The return mile was fine on the breathing tho the legs quickly felt like lead. Sincerely hoping as my fitness improves the legs start to feel lighter.

My Garmin heart, monitor thing arrived today so I shall test it out on my double distancer on Sunday.

Told my work colleague Gordon about my Loch Ness shindig and he's now contemplating joining me. Be great to have someone of similar unfitness joining me.

:-)

Run no 2 - 2 miles

It's been very windy and rainy up here all day so wasn't looking forward to heading out. By time I set out this evening though, the rain had cleared and the wind had all but gone, in fact it had turned into a rather pleasant evening. Took along my Nano for company which completely took my mind off the exercise in hand. Breathing wise there were no problems though the legs felt they had 5kg weights strapped on. All in all it was a good run tho I need to omit the silly thoughts about how can I possibly run this distance another 12 times in one go.

Lashed out on a Garmin GPS, heart monitor thing which should help me pace myself better. Realised my training shoes are the ones I first bought about 12 years ago so reckon I'll have to look at picking up a new pair over the weekend.

Run no 1 - 2 miles

It's been a rather pleasant day weather wise so I decided I would dust off the shorts and t-shirt. My mate Dave recommended due to the sheer distance involved in a marathon it's important you get used to running at a slower than normal pace. With this in mind I set out on a little 2 miler which rather conveniently is exactly the distance from the rounabout from my street to another and back again. I took my time and ran it at a fairly leisurely and comfortable pace.

It's a start, next run Wed.

The seed is planted

Since my early teens I've always been an active, fairly fit individual. The main exercise was running, completing a lot of 10ks and half a dozen 1/2 marathons. At the turn of the new millenium I decided to park the running career and apply myself to lifting weights. Over the next 7 years I got myself to a respectable standard, something I was extremely proud off. Sadly a combination of work commitments and my gym partner moving away put paid to regular training and about a year ago after numerous cancelling and rejoining I decided to knock the gym on the head. These last 12 months have seen my exercise schedule deplete to virtually nothing bar the very, very occasional 2 mile run.

Sat on my lazy behind on Sun watching the London Marathon got me thinking about reigniting the running and attempting the famous 26 miler. A bit of research later on the net made it pretty clear getting accepted for the London one was a very much a lottery. My mate Dave (a keen runner) yesterday asked why don't I stick my name down for the Loch Ness Marathon in Oct which give me all the incentive I need to get in a suitable shape. Sadly a futher incentive is to raise a bit of cash in memory of a close colleague Big Dave who passed away suddenly last Monday.

So, as from today, the training begins........................................