My brother and I are running a marathon in 157 days time. Just over 5 months. Not just any marathon, but the hardest road marathon in the UK - the Snowdonia marathon.

The course map looks rather pleasant - a scenic lap of Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa to the locals). But Snowdon is the highest mountain of wales, and unlike Fuji, it’s not a lone mountain, so the whole course is up and down the surrounding mountains. It’s when you look at the helpfully provided profile that a little bit of wee comes out, and we wonder how ill-prepared I am thus far, and how much I need to train between now and then. I have run 3 marathons before, none since 2004, and they have all been a triumph of will on the day, rather than a predictably-executed run after a well-prepared training schedule. Looking at the massive uphill for miles 21 to 24, it’s going to take some proper training from now, as well as some serious mental strength on the day.

Last year’s winner managed it in 2 hours 36, and the last finisher exactly five hours later in 7 hours 36. I am aiming to split their times, and finish my fastest ever marathon, hitting 5 hours. So far it seems possible if implausible.

Possible because: 1) I live in Bristol, and it’s bloody full of hills. So if I run anywhere here pretty much - it’s hill training. 2) I have an iPod now - which makes marathon distance training much more interesting than a long cassette/Minidisc. 3) I enjoy doing painfully difficult things. 4) My brother is doing it, and he’s a runner’s build, and if he beats me by miles it will be annoying to have to kill him. (maybe I’ll just switch our numbers at the start. that could work).

Those previous marathons:

• Mid-Atlantic Marathon, June 2004 - WINNER - 5 hours 10 minutes. A peculiar affair, which I only considered after running a half marathon around the decks of the QM2 the day before (not ideal training). It seemed like a good idea at the time, and I was keen on keeping fit, whilst not pedalling, as I took the QM2 from Southampton to New York to continue on my way from A to B. I was joined for the last few laps by various other passengers who had seen me on QM2TV. Marvellous. It later turned out I had run over 28 miles, due to a rounded-down lap marker claiming that 3 laps was only 1.1 mile. Admittedly I may have only won because I was the only starter of this race, and the only person to have definitely run a mid-atlantic marathon.
• London Marathon 2003 - 5 hours 20 minutes. My first marathon.
• London Marathon 2004 - 6 hours 15 seconds. Am not sure how this happened. I took it easy as I was heading off from A to B on the bike a couple of weeks later. It was horrible. I sprinted the last mile to make sure I got in under 6 hours, but somehow failed.