I am heading off this weekend to look at a potential venue for the 24hr treadmill challenge which now looks like it has been set for April. It is been billed as an official record attempt but the record currently stands at 153.6 miles so I am doubtful that I will manage further than that. I will, however, give it my best shot and see how far I can do in 24hrs. To give myself the best chance at doing this I have pulled out of the glasgow to edinburgh double marathon and will not be entering any other races until this is complete to focus on my traning.
In the meantime I will be doing mainly treadmill running (yawn) to get myself used to the pace and tedium. It will be a mix of long runs and some speed sessions too.
My friend, Paul (lanzarote crew), works in Esporta in Poole and has arranged for me to do an 8hr treadmill run there next month - I will post the exact date when I know. They will promote the upcoming 24hr challenge that I will be doing with Sweatshop and Nike.
Hopefully after this weekend I will have an exact date for both events and I can seriously start worrying about it - although there have been some panics already about it

This weekend saw the 2nd Beacons Ultra race happening. i did this race last year and it was great so was looking forward to doing it again this year and trying to retain my title. Unfortunately a couple of weeks ago I woke up to find my right ankle had swollen and for the next week found it incredibly painful to walk on. I had treatment done on it and by last weekend it appeared to have been better. I did a couple of test runs during the week leading up to the race and it seemed to be ok.
As the race has an option of doing one or 2 laps (without a DNF) I thought I would start the race and see how I went. Within the 1st mile I could feel it niggling at me but thought it may pass after a while but as it seemed to get worse as it went on I knew I would only end up doing one lap. There were options where I could have taken a quicker route back to the start/finish but I couldn't stomach the thought of a DNF so took it easy with a run/walk strategy. The race doc did offer me some painkillers on the lap but I knew if I took them it would mask the pain enough for me to carry on to the second lap and potentially turn the niggle into a proper injury.
Within minutes of finishing I saw the race physio who said it was a tear in the soleus muscle but also that it appeared to be happening in my other leg too - probably had something to do with running 20 odd miles around the beacons mainly one one leg???
I'm not generally known for being sensible when it comes to running but glad I decided to just do the one lap. Although I do realise that the really sensible thing to do would have been not to start at all.  As it is I've been told not to run for 2 weeks, good thing I can swim and cycle though otherwise I would probably go insane.
The race was, as last year, very well organised. The crew were fab as always and I will definitely go back next year, after all I have to try to reclaim the title!
Well done to everyone who took part but a special well done to Mark Palmer who completed it in an astounding 6hrs 48mins while Emily Gelder won the ladies race.
Awesome race Matt, feel free to put my name down for next year already!
for info on the race please go to www.beaconsultra.com