I write this blog sat at my desk on Monday, the day after the fourth marathon of the year so far. I’m feeling quite rough and may have over exerted myself yesterday – I very nearly passed out on the walk to the station after completing it. More on this later. I’ve decided to write only once every other week or so, as I don’t want to bore the pants off people – which is wholly possible.

So, let’s work in chronological order. First off, the third run of the year so far, which was just over a week ago. Again, on the treadmill of doom. Quite straightforward though. I finished in 3 hours 47 minutes. It made more sense to do 3 10k runs and 12.2k run and add the times together. I wore my heart rate monitor and you can see the outcome here:

Note the numerous lulls in heart rate. The first is stopping after 10k and then restarting. It takes time, you know. The next is a piss stop. After that, each lull is a walking break or a ‘restart’ of the treadmill. As you can see, I am still using a walk/run technique for the latter parts of a run. I’m not yet fit enough to run a whole one. Or I’m not patient enough to run at a slower pace but more steadily for the whole run. I’m weird like that, and would rather more punishment interspersed with bits of recovery. The only major issue I had was that I put too much salt in one of my water bottles (I have one that is just water and another that is salty – to replace that lost in sweat). Trouble is, I chose the wrong cap on the salt tub in the morning and instead of ‘sprinkling’ into the bottle, it ‘poured’. I’m still experimenting over what works best. This is the second time I’ve done this and frankly, I may as well save myself some money and get it out of the sea. Must get the basics right! Although, and consider this for a moment, why not just drink some water and intersperse it with licking my arm/shoulder to get the salt back in! Because I form a white crust where all the salt dries on.

 So that one was done and dusted. Total time of 3.46.46 according to the watch. Splits below:

Split 1                                 Split 2

Split 3                                 Split 4

 I felt great the next day, too. No recovery issues – felt loose, able to walk normally and all in all, a happy bunny was I. I also cycled to work and back one day and played football twice. This will increase.

This week has been a busy one. First off, we have had a screen test for, and subsequent invitation to take part in ‘Auction Party’  on ITV to promote Passingiton and my runs (the leg type – my guts are working jus fine!). Essentially, I will become a huge celebrity and so if you want an autograph, get in now whilst they’re cheap.

I’m not fully aware of what it involves, but my understanding is that we have to ponce around Brighton with Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen and a film crew, buying some old tat and ‘doing it up’ before selling it on to some unsuspecting mug (you?!?!) a week later at the auction party itself. Should be a laugh and I’m bound to make a tit of myself.

If you want to come along (Monday 31^st Jan somewhere in Brighton) and possibly get on telly, give me a shout (kev@52marathons.co.uk). You don’t have to buy anything, but you do have to smile and look pretty. Well, as pretty as possible, anyway. Well OK, just not repulse the telly people. Equally, if you would like to dare me to try to get certain words on to the telly for a donation, let me know what the word is and how much you are willing to pay!

I have had loads of encouragement this week, too. Things are slowly plodding on and it was nice to be spotted on the train and talked to about all the runs. If you have any questions about it, give me a shout on the email address above. Happy to field any questions.

I got talked about in the changing rooms of Riptide on Sunday, too. I had set up my treadmill and then popped back into the changing rooms for ‘last minute preparations’. As I was sat there minding my own business and concentrating on giving it just a little extra push, I overheard a couple of guys talking about me. Brilliant, I thought – news is getting out there. The conversation then progressed towards “it’s mental. He’ll never do it” and “It’ll destroy him if he does it. And the important word is if”. “Yeah, he’ll probably just drop out in the summer or something”. I sniggered because they were talking about me. But then I was offended because they were questioning me. I WILL DO THIS!!! However, they did suggest it was a great feat if not a silly one. I flushed (I’m a conscientious gym user after all) and plodded out. They looked sheepishly at me. I think it was because they realised who I was…

This week, I made a conscious effort during the run to make myself run a bit further each time without walking. I set myself the target of 30km straight running without a walk and at a constant pace (12.1km/h, since you as). I failed. SHAME ON ME. I was gutted. I only did about 26km (16miles for the old people). I WILL get there. I think a large portion of it was psychological. I got so bored!!! Have a look at this picture of me. Stare at it for a minute:

Boring, isn’t it? Well imagine staring at it for 225 minutes. 3 hours 45 minutes of my face. Getting redder and redder. More and more tired. It’s what I have to do because the gym has mirrors in front of all the treadmills. Now do you see why it’s boring? But I got there, through to the end in a comfy 3.45 ish again. Again, heart rates are below for comparison with the week before. Please note that I forgot to turn the timer off on the watch – so I pointed out where I finished! Sorry. You can tally this with the split times – which I took a photo of. you can clearly see that my heart works a lot harder at the end of a run compared with at the start.

 I will publish these for as many runs as possible to see what happens to it over time. Steady finish time of 3.46.24 or thereabouts.

Split 1                                 Split 2

Split 3                                 Split 4 

I actually walked for about the last ten minutes because I was feeling rough. I felt worse when I got outside and walked up to train station. I thought I was going to fall over, so I had a sit down in town and relaxed for a while. I felt better later on, so have recovered quite nicely with only slightly achy legs.

Finally, developments with fundraising and PR. Aside from the telly thing, people are getting in touch to offer their support. I have a telephone meeting (check me!) this week with Oneon about nutritional/supplementary support. I have also heard from an old friend, Matt Haines, who has told me that the haulage company he works for/helps to run is keen to help. So watch this space and in advance – thank you S&J Haulage. I have the tagline already – ‘Like S&J, I’m in it for the long haul’.

I have also been in touch with the guys at the Eastbourne Half Marathon and the Portsmouth Coastal Half Marathon who have offered me free entry to take part (2 laps, of course!) in their races. For that, I am massively grateful. I have run Eastbourne  before and it’s a great run that’s growing. The runners are all really nice and it follows a decent seafront route. The Portsmouth run is a new one for me, but the guy who runs it is an avid runner and the feedback I’ve read from previous years is very positive. They also do other runs throughout the year – so keep an eye here if you're in the south and running is your bag! 

Next time - physiological changes, my weight and talk of suicide - not mine, don't worry! Bad stuff can inspire!!!

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A couple of lovely people have pledged a pound every time I do a marathon. It doesn't sound much if it's done that way! Whatever you can afford.

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So, only 50 to go. I successfully completed the second marathon of the year yesterday.

There's not yet a lot to talk about. I think things will get interesting in the weeks and months to come. Essentially, this is a marathon of marathons and at the minute, I'm at the start bit with the excitement and comfort and energy. Later will come the slog of the mid-miles where monotony kicks in, followed by the mental and physical agony of hitting the wall and then the success of finishing.

Strangely, I didn't hit the wall yesterday. It was some sort of paradoxical run where I was very mentally taxed but physically I felt generally fine. As I've said before, I love the idea that running causes a great deal of pain and I can stop that pain at any time but choose not to. It's being in charge of how hard I push myself and my mental toughness to not take the easier option.

Anyway... Enough of the cerebral stuff and down to the basics.

Yesterday's was my first ever marathon on a treadmill. Before this, I hadn't ever run further than 10k on a treadmill. Mainly because it's dull. I mean, it's mind numbing! Essentially it was me staying in one place with my legs going round, looking at myself in a mirror (pretty as I am, i can still get bored of myself) and watching numbers go (slowly) round and round.

I have to say, the people at Riptide Gym are incredibly helpful and supportive. They've sponsored me where the University gym wouldn't, allowed me to use all of their equipment and give me advice and support - all for free.

So up I got at 7.30am to go to the gym. On the treadmill ready to go at 9.15. ON A SATURDAY! There were a couple of small issues... Firstly, treadmill's aren't designed or programmed to run for 26.2 miles at a time (surprised?!?!), so logic had to be used. As far as I could work out, you could only time it in for 60minutes at a time, so this was going to be what I did. Under the agreement (with myself!) that as soon as it finished, I would start again! This is what I did. I have some videos that will be uploaded when Wid adds the module that allows it to the website.

So the first 60 minutes was steady if not a little tiring as the muscle aches from last week came back quite soon. I did 11.95km. That then finished and I started doing the next hour's stint. As I came to the end of that hour, I pressed a button and it allowed me to continue. So I did - up to 90 minutes as there were only enough spaces on the screen to go up to 99 minutes and I didnt want to start working at fractions of hours. Anyway... after 2 and a half hours I run at an average of nearly 12km/h and completed 11.95km in hour 1 and 17.92km in the second hour and a half. 2.5 hours - 29.87km done and 'only' 12.33km to go.

I ended up doing that final 12.33km in 67minutes 20 seconds. So a total for the full 42.2km was 3hours 37minutes and 20 seconds. Add in a bit of time for those changeovers (I wouldn't want anyone to think i was trying to steal a few seconds!) and I reckon it was still under 3 hours 40. Which was essentially the second fastest marathon I have ever run!

You know what could have been easier, of course? Instead of adding up all the distance and that sort of thing, I could just programme it to do four equal runs of 10.5km!!! What a numpty. But then did the constant maths in my head take my mind off the running? Probably not, but I'm in an uncertain mind as to whether I should change it or not.

That's it for now. Next week, look out for my chat about putting too much salt in my water, the great audition for a new TV show with some of the Passingiton guys and how I secretly hope my wee is dead orange when I finally finish running!

Remember, I wouldn't be doing this if a) I were not mad, b) I was not running for two really important charities and c) I didn't secretly want an MBE in the future for my endeavours in my life. Please follow me on twitter - @52marathonman or 'like me on Facebook

Remember too, there is lots more information available on my website www.52marathons.co.uk 

For now - thanks for reading!