London Marathon 2010: Harpenden man running in a kilt

Today I was lucky enough to be invited to spend some time with local running celebrity Ken Murray, 44, of Shakespeare Road, Harpenden. Frequently seen pounding the streets of Harpenden, Herts, in his kilt, this tireless charity fundraiser has built quite a following on his blog, www.anotherscottishbloke.blogspot.com as he attempts to complete 1,000 miles in preparation for the Virgin London Marathon.

Kenny confided in me that his training schedule, in and around Harpenden, Herts, UK, included sprint drills, tempo runs and long runs and had been designed to optimise his performance on marathon day where he hopes to hit his target finish time of three hours.

It was truly fascinating to witness at first hand how an athlete at the top of his game organises his day. In close attendance at all times was his personal nutritionist who kindly prepared a sample of the Scotsman’s stable training diet: bacon butties. Combined with cups of tea these high fat rolls are the ideal post exercise fuel.

The highlight of my time was undoubtedly being invited to join Kenneth on one of his training runs. I consider myself to be in reasonable shape but still had trouble keeping up on what he told later me was an easy half-mile jog. By performing multiple half-mile jogs without a rest between it was explained to me how it is possible to build up over time sufficient endurance to run 1,000 miles non-stop.

All too soon my time was over. I wished the gentle giant good luck for next week when he attempts to run 10,000 miles in two hours, stepped back into my spaceship and returned to planet earth.

What a complete and utter loony.

(ps read all about it here)