Inspired by Maggie's

It's been a great week of training and I'm feeling good on the back of it.  The runs have been getting longer with some speed work introduced.  The highlight of my week was heading to our local hill, Tinto, for power walk up and run down it 3 times.  That's a total ascent of 1,543m so higher than Ben Nevis (1,345m) and as usual, the weather was awful.  I started early at 6.05am so I could finish in time to go watch my son in a football match.  There was only one other person on the hill and while the temperature was warm, it was pissing down with rain and blowing a hooley - so much so I had to take off my cap and glasses.  I need my glasses to see but unless they had windscreen wipers fitted I still couldn't see for the rain.
On the first descent I notice a group of at least 30 people making their way up the hill and then realised this was a Maggie's group - the charity I raise funds for.  They were climbing 3 hills in the day and Tinto was their 1st.  The fund raisers came in all shapes, sizes and age but they look determined to complete their mission.  Some were climbing Tinto for the first time and on my second descent I stopped to talk to Mark who was bringing up the rear with Heather from Maggie's and a few other volunteers.  He was doing really well considering it turned out this was his first time on Tinto.  He was 25 mins from the summit and I wished him well knowing he'd definitely be making it to the top.  I told him there was a party at the top, at least 20 people there and soon he'd be joining them and his effort would have been worthwhile.  I so admire those fund raisers, especially the ones that are way out their comfort zone climbing hills like Tinto.  They may be bringing up the rear but they deserve all the praise as they are out longer and are probably burning more calories than the rest.  Well done Mark and everyone else that put up with the weather.  I'm sure Heather will let me know how you all got on.
I think I mentioned last week how you never know that your efforts are inspiring others.  Doing 3 reps of Tinto is mind numbing and meeting the Maggie's people gave me a lift which I needed in order to stay on target in completing the task in under 3hrs 20 mins.  I did it in 3 hours 17 mins and I can honestly say that the Maggie's team got me there so thank you all.
I also know I'm making progress because not long ago running down Tinto twice had me almost unable to walk for 5 days.  This morning I ran a slow, easy 42 minutes followed by 1 hour in the gym with a big leg workout.  My legs felt good before and great afterwards so something is working!  Seeing evidence that the hard work is paying off is always a good feeling.  I'm also eating like a horse as my body is demanding more healthy food to replace the calories burned.
My mind is starting to think through the logistics of the 125 X in the Peak District.  Like all the competitors, Beth and I will be camping but we need to think through our food as it's essential we have sufficient calories to fuel our running and have food to eat during the run.  More so for her as she is doing 75km on day 1 where as day 2 is only 50km - an easier day for me on fresh legs but I'll still need food/fuel.  When I did the 125 X in Inverness my favourite food was baby potatoes coated in butter and sea salt.  Wash that down with a pork pie and that's a lot of calories.  It's also savory food to balance against the sweet gels that are necessary or the flat coke which is rocket fuel.
Having something to aim for such as a race, particularly one that requires you to dig very deep or into territory that you haven't been into before, motivates you to train hard.  Even when you are tired and hurting but that's what you need to do.  Long days back to back makes you train on tired legs and this is the secret to managing long races.  I'm started to get excited about the race but there's a lot of hard work to be done between now and then.  Bring it on and once again, thanks Maggie's, you gave me inspiration when I needed it.