Trust the Process: Paris Marathon 2022
26.2 and Beyond
by Al Flowers
2y ago
It has taken me 10 years to finally run a sub-3 hour road marathon and it’s taken me just over a month to process that fact, and to finally sit down and write something about it. It is a strange feeling to have achieved what was the first ever goal I set myself when I ..read more
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Lakeland 50, 2021: ‘fun’ in the sun!
26.2 and Beyond
by Al Flowers
2y ago
LOVE FOR LAKELAND Sitting here in my Lakeland finisher’s shirt two weeks after the race, I felt compelled to write about my third run around the fantastic Lakeland 50 course. Yes, it’s that good I have run it three times and I don’t doubt I will run it again. The 2021 race wasn’t the result or the race I’d wanted but I’m proud of myself for finishing under 12 hours. I am also happy to have finished inside the top 100 for the third time. Initially I had gone to race with the stated ambition of lowering my 2016 course PB of 10:31:58 – the omens on race day were good. It was hot and there was no ..read more
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What I talk about when…
26.2 and Beyond
by Al Flowers
2y ago
What is an aquathlon? Aquathlon in its simplest terms is a swim followed immediately by a run. Races can take place in pools or in open water. The swim can be anywhere from 400m to 1000m – usually 400m if it’s in the pool and usually 750m or 1000m if it’s in the sea, a lake or a river. Championship events are always held in open water. Swimmers emerge from the water and into the transition zone where they remove their wetsuit (if they are using one), goggles and swim cap and then immediately don their race number and running shoes before setting off on a 5km run. The run can be all road, off ..read more
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Country to Capital 2021 (Spring Edition)
26.2 and Beyond
by Al Flowers
3y ago
An actual race. In real life. In person. With other people – registering in the same place, running on the same course, at the same time. A return to racing following the restrictions imposed on all of us, across the world, due to Covid-19. Certainly a welcome return! Initially I was expecting to run in January with a few of my running friends, one of whom I met at Country to Capital 2015 – we’ve been firm friends ever since. I’d signed up in October 2020 thinking all would be well and we weren’t going to end up in an almost 5 month lockdown. Alas, that’s what happened. I was really gutted at ..read more
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4x4x48 Challenge (with added push-ups)
26.2 and Beyond
by Al Flowers
3y ago
I wanted to do the 4x4x48 last year but fell prey to injury so I have been looking forward to this for a year! I decided that I would add the extra challenge of 1 minute of push-ups at the end of each run with a view to completing 300 in 48 hours. I decided to raise money for a charity called Become who work with children in care and young care leavers. Last year I raised funds for MSF who are a large and internationally focused charity so this year I wanted to do something for a charity based in the UK. I used to work for a small mental health charity so I know how important cash flow and ..read more
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Running, Life & Adventure in 2020 (Part Two)
26.2 and Beyond
by Al Flowers
3y ago
“To survive and flourish…you will need a lot of mental flexibility and great reserves of emotional balance. You will have to repeatedly let go of some of what you know best, and feel at home with the unknown.” – Yuval Noah Harari This is the second part of my two parter covering the strange year of 2020. The first covered January to May. This post will take us from June to December 26th and I will try to outline some tentative plans for 2021, as we all know the only plans any of us can make at this point are tentative ones! The second half of the year has been even stranger than the first half ..read more
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It’s a Kind of Magic
26.2 and Beyond
by Al Flowers
3y ago
It has been just over nine and a half years since I went for my first run and started to think about what life could be like if I stopped taking drugs and trudging along a path I didn’t really want to be on. The first few years of that journey were filled with firsts, discoveries, set-backs and triumphs and many moments of doubt, anguish and struggle but I got through them and found myself very quickly part of the endurance community – first through mountaineering and then through running. Along the way I have tried many different things, learned new skills, been to new places and pushed mysel ..read more
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An unexpected marathon.
26.2 and Beyond
by Al Flowers
3y ago
I did something on Saturday that I’ve never done before. I went on my usual long run but that run turned out to be marathon distance! I think, prior to that the longest I’ve done for a training run is 35km – they usually range between 23km and 32km. I’m not entirely sure what spurred me on to run so far but I am absolutely sure that there is no turning back! I loved the feeling I got after passing 35km, I loved being out for almost 4 hours and I loved the feeling I got at the end of the run having achieved a negative split marathon; I went through 21km in 2:03:55 and through 42km in 3:50:27. I ..read more
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Lakeland 50, July 30th 2016
26.2 and Beyond
by Al Flowers
3y ago
The Lakeland 50, although one of my 3 Bucket List Races in 3 Months (Mont Blanc Marathon, Lakeland 50, TDS), was always meant to be a preparation event for the TDS at the end of August. Just over half way into the race, feeling strong and marching up Gatesgarth Pass it shifted in my mind from preparation event to a race that I might actually do quite well at if I kept my head and kept moving as per my pre-race plan – hike conservatively at the beginning of climbs and harder toward the top, run the downhills and then take the ‘flat’ sections as run/walk intervals to conserve energy and reduce m ..read more
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CTS Dorset Ultra, December 5th 2015
26.2 and Beyond
by Al Flowers
3y ago
My final race of 2015 turned out to be both amazing, awful, beautiful and brutal! EnduranceLife sure know how to put on a tough race. They organise their courses according to ‘severity’: (2) Moderate, (3) Strenuous, (4) Severe and (5) Extreme – this one was billed as ‘Extreme’ and it lived up to it for sure. I arrived the afternoon before the race into the very picturesque village of West Lulworth. The wind was gusting at about 35/40mph when I arrived but it wasn’t so noticeable as the cottage I was staying in was in a cove and sheltered by the hills I was due to run the next day. As the ..read more
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