Second Race - the countdown

The second race is now only two days away.

As you will have seen from my previous post (what, you haven't read it? scroll down now!) I did so much better in the first race than I expected that I decided I had to up the challenge - six 10K races are no longer enough! I'm still going to do six events, but they'll be longer and more varied in type. The "60km to Lourdes" title is no longer strictly correct, but I don't know yet how far I'm actually going to travel, so I'll keep the name for now.

My initial plan was to do a ten miler, but I am afraid I missed the registration deadline. The best alternative I could find to keep within the 'one-race-a-month' plan was the Dunsfold Park Duathlon, which takes place this Sunday at 12:30. The format is a four and a half km run, followed by a 15km cycle, then another 4.5km run. Not too scary, but still a step up in competitive level, and I haven't ever taken part in a cycling race, so this could end badly...

Also, my preparation for this one has not been so good. Obviously I had less time to prepare for this race, coming relatively soon after the first one. But the major issue is I'm still recovering from Iain's stag last weekend:

I know what you're envisaging - a night of drunken adventures, dressing the stag up as a schoolgirl and trolling the least salubrious establishments available. Well, you're almost right. In fact it was a five day odyssey consisting of rock climbing, drinking, abseiling, drinking, jumping into rivers, drinking, mountain biking, drinking, hill walking, drinking, sailing, drinking, outdoor cookery, drinking, go-karts, drinking, fried breakfasts, drinking and finally a night in Blackpool, drinking some more. In that time Iain was a monkey, cave-man, sailor, bunny, schoolboy, mermaid and turtle. Well done to Huw, Lex and Bill for organising it all. I'm not sure how we survived, but we did. The Lake District may never be the same again.

Since then I've had to take a day off work sick for only the second time in five years, and my normally indomitable training companion is, if anything, even worse. He had a throat infection that nearly knocked him out of the first race and it seems to have returned, so I may be competing on my own.

How this will affect my performance I don't know, but I'm aiming to finish in 90 minutes. Again, wish me luck!

PS: The sponsorship website is still available at : https://www.bmycharity.com/V2/60kmtoLourdes