Breaking the record for Barney: Follow Duncan's training for the Shakespeare Marathon
Stratford-born Duncan Nealon will be running the Shakespeare Marathon in April, and is aiming to break the world record for the fastest marathon run while in full rugby kit. He will be running in aid of Meningitis Now, a charity close to his heart following the death of his friend’s son.
After narrowly missing out on beating the record at October’s London Marathon, Duncan will now be hoping to smash the current time of three hours and five minutes and honour the memory of Barney Adlington, who died in 2005 from meningitis, aged three.
In his weekly blog for the Herald, Duncan will be updating readers on his progress as he trains ahead of the Shakespeare Marathon on 24th April.
That’s the sixth week of training ticked off. I ran 62 miles run this week, in what was a very busy week with work. I had to move my sessions around to fit round work. Overall, however, I’m really happy with how things went. The longest session was 18 miles, with first the 12 miles at 8m20s per mile pace, and final 6 miles at 6m28s pace. It was all done on the treadmill whilst watching the Six Nations rugby! I ran 16 half mile intervals in 2m48s each, earlier in the week, which was a very intense session, and a really pleasing one to get done.
I’d been dreading running this week. I’m not sure why, really, but I wasn’t looking forward to it. Having got through the week though, I’m back in the groove and loving it. There’s something massively motivating about seeing the progress you’re making, and methodically ticking the sessions off. Even if, at 44 years old now, it takes me a bit longer to recover!
I’ve been trying to shift weight, and by cleaning up my food, alongside the mileage, have dropped a stone in the first six weeks of training. Hopefully another half a stone still to go. It’s a big week coming up; 23 miles for the long run.
I had my photo taken following slipping over mid-week!
To donate to Duncan’s fundraiser visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/meningitis-now
For more information on how to enter the Shakespeare marathon and half marathon visit https://www.entryhub.co.uk/rotary-shakespeare-marathon-half-marathon-2022
