Thursday, October 4, 2012

Marathon Man

Today we bit the bullet and put all our hard days (all three of them) training into practise and did what is sure to become known as the Edzell Marathon in days to come.
Ever since watching our Olympic cyclists, R has had the bug. I sewed a wee seed about how a marathon distance would be an Olympic achievement for one so young, and he took that seed and made it grow. Each trip I returned from work to the call "can we practice for my marathon dad?"
Last trip, we made it up to 16+ miles on a lovely Sunday morning, and he didn't struggle, so we decided, all in the name of school fundraising (and now that's taken care of this year too after this!), to have a crack at the marathon itself.
The "loop" where we live measures 5.3 miles, therefore 5 easy laps takes us past that Herculean target with some to spare.....whilst never being too far from home or a cafe. Worked a treat too.....

Before we set off, some pre-start checks.


Off we go. It's about 4 degrees in the sunshine!


Lunch given free by a local cafe. A hearty plate of warm stovies and milkshake keeps a boy motivated.


Some well wishers en route offer their support


 One of the neighbours has an Olympic lap marker



He did ever so well today. The first 3-4 miles went ok, despite the cold, but then we hit a long straight in the shade. I must admit, it reminded me of cold winter days motorbiking, my hands were bitterly cold. He started to cry and I thought I had broken him. We pushed it the remainder of the lap home, changed the cycle gloves for wooly ones, and a few other winter warmers, and off we went. He managed very well afer that.

Well done Son.


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