The time has come for my 30th year challenge. 26.2 miles skate on Saturday followed by 26.2 miles run on the Sunday in the city of Berlin, in aid of Prostate Cancer UK.


A cocktail of emotions sloshed in my head the week before. I opened up the Berlin marathon magazine from 2012 which gave me instant goosebumps. One moment I'd be pumped and the next I'd have butterflies. Maybe doing my first run marathon the day after a major race wasn't such a good idea.... (My friends Emily and Van did exactly this, but they're pretty hardcore).


Also for the Double this weekend is Theresa who had done this last year and Alan who has many marathons under his belt. It was good to compare training notes!


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Accommodation.
Theresa and I stayed at the Leonardo Hotel. We paid a little more than usual to avoid the hostels and ensure we got decent sleep for our challenges. The Leonardo was about a ten minute walk to the event village. (Maybe twenty minutes post run).

​Prostate Cancer UK.
For my first skate marathon I made my fund raising target for NSPCC to be £360 as that was the number of 'Facebook friends,'I had at the time. Given that I was doing the Berlin Double I made my target for Prostate Cancer to be £720 this time.

On the Tuesday before Berlin I reached my target. Just what I needed as a hit of positivity for the lead up.

I was in two minds about contacting the local paper about my challenge as I wasn't really after having my face printed across the town. With the charity in mind I got in touch. 

When I was waiting to board my flight I checked my charity page. My goodness!! The total had shot passed £1000 over night! What a way to start my journey to Germany!

There were quite a few people who said they'll be donating when they can. However my friend Mit said to me "I'm not donating until you've done it!" No pressure then! 

With my Berlin Double Marathon just a week away I made the choice to skip Rough Runner this year to reduce the chances of any possible injuries. I decided to go along to the event all the same, armed with my SLR camera as well as to support my friends. The others laughed that I still came in my run kit. I learnt from last time I took pics at Pretty Muddy I ended up getting a tad sweaty! Also I intended to run and take pics of my friends at all of the obstacles. 

I partook in the inaugural Rough Runner event last year so I was keen to see how the event has evolved. The location was brilliant. It was a London based event that actually was in 'London. (One of my pet hates is listing locations as 'London,' where it's not even close to the M25. People aren't stupid).

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This so called 'music 10K,' wasn't really that loud all the way around. I enjoyed the run but if you were there for the beats you would have been disappointed. There was a stage for the after party but it didn't look that busy when I went past. Full price was £40 and I'm glad I didn't pay that. I guess all of the promo material costs had to be covered.

I was using this race a relaxed lead up event to Berlin. With only two weeks to go I wanted to take this easy. I decided to run with my friend Theresa starting in the final race wave, 10:35. We were going at a slower pace than I was used to, but a faster pace than Theresa was accustomed to. It was nice however to run together and enjoy each others' company.

For the last 2k I planned to take it at a faster pace on my own. There was music as soon as I started running which led me into a sprint. I recklessly forced my heartrate up in a manner which wasn't too clever for my race ability. Spectators on the side even commented! 3:30 min/km! After a minute of that I had to ease off. However not too much as I was too embarrassed to let any of those people I just shot passed overtake! I continued the rest of the race at 4:40 min/km which was still a lot faster than my usual 5:40 min/km.

The final straight was a lovely decline where I crossed at 59:10. Not my fastest, but the last ten minutes was the most fierce I've ever been in a race! 

After a night of intense street skating (12 miles) I was once again up early for some pavement pounding. Five minutes into my run and an unscheduled downfall came upon me. "Nice day for a run," a lady joked as she huddled into her house. As I am someone who has paid good money to roll in mud this rain did not bother me.

I tried out some alternative snacking choices, which included a High 5 energy bar which went down well. Also some Hunters Droewors, this was a bit harder to swallow while running and the saltiness made my throat a bit too dry, so it's a no for that. 

It was a tough morning but it felt good during this session overall. Bring it!!