Making the most out of the circumstances

Jeff 'The Dude' Dowd and Emmet at Lebowski Fest 2007 in LA

Many of you will soon receive my latest travel email covering my recent holiday in LA, from which I returned today. The combination of that trip plus a working gig out in Las Vegas from Sunday through Thursday is not the ideal way to build up for a marathon, especially as I'll line up for the race the Monday after I return from Vegas.

Now don't get me wrong I look forward to this forthcoming trip and thoroughly enjoyed my time in LA but it would be remiss of me to not try and at least slightly counterbalance the clear impact these trips will have on my preparations.

The heat in LA and the prospect of good weather in Vegas will hopefully do some good. With the rather frightening prospect of a warm weather marathon on the cards, a nightmare scenario for a big guy like me, but potentially erratic weather between now and race day in Ireland I can at least guarantee that it'll be nothing I haven't been used to in the weeks building up to the race as I'll have been spending time in a warmer climate. I'll explain the kind of conditions that the STIG team will be praying on raceday later this week.

Don't miss: STIG for CF Ireland will be making a huge announcement on this very blog tomorrow. Stay tuned.