7 Marathons in 7 Continents

Post Marathon Blues? So for ten days I haven’t even put on my running shoes, not even glanced at them let alone taken them around the park or into the hills. I am not sure if it has been relief of completing the marathon or the body recovering but the shoes haven’t moved. I think I have PMB (post marathon blues). You see I’ve been posting weekly ‘selfies’ of my training, but just today someone said to me “hey you never posted a full run down of the marathon, I’ve enjoyed following your journey, tell us what happened”. My baptism of fire began with no running to around 100 km per week. Just 7 weeks training finished with the weekend before last running the Motatapu Marathon 42.2 km. My second marathon of my life only. You see I am not a runner really, more a bike rider. My first marathon was a dare and it was New York 2001. I wanted my only marathon to be one to remember and with ground zero still smouldering the experience was something I will never forget. Maybe I can’t resist a dare but Motatapu run was similar. Have I eaten enough, have I […]

So the trip to China has finally arrived… what started as a good idea over a glass or two of Shiraz has turned into this.  One of the hardest marathons on the planet awaits and number 3 of 7 marathons on 7 continents is only a few days away. When I say one of the hardest, the only Marathon harder (they say) is the Inca Trail Marathon to Machu Picchu.  It has similar height gain but to top it off you’ve also got altitude to contend with.  Antarctica doesn’t even come close.  A recent article was quoted saying “If the Antarctic Marathon was 9 out of 10 in terms of difficulty the Great Wall of China Marathon is a 15”.  So I guess it’s with trepidation that I look forward to the next week. Trepidation and apprehension are possibly understatements as I’m not really looking forward to the whole trip either.  You see we leave on Tuesday and arrive back in NZ on Sunday. Five nights out of the country, 23 hours of flying and travel each way, 4 airports each way and a brutal Marathon in between, it’s going to make for one very sore set of legs post […]