It’s a question I find I’m asking myself more and more.  When is enough enough?  26.2? That always seemed the obvious limit to me but who decided that? Pheidippides? Sure, he would probably say that was enough but he didn’t have a Runners World 16 week training plan or a well rehearsed fuel and hydration strategy…  Millions of people around to world have taken on the grueling 26.2 challenge and succeeded.  So what next?

Some people might say a marathon is too far anyway, ‘running is bad for you’, ‘it’s bad for your knees’, ‘it’s not natural to run that far’, blah blah blah.  What was that sorry?  You seemed to be choking on your cigarette, I couldn’t quite hear you, oh yes, running, it’s bad for me.

Some people already think I’m crazy but I fear they haven’t seen the half of it yet.  I never know when to stop.  I never have, not with anything, sometimes it works to my favour and sometimes it doesn’t.  Already in training for marathon number 4 (and my 2nd this year which is already something I never thought would happen), I’ve started to sets my sights even higher.  Maybe an Ultra next year?  Could I do that?  Why would I do that?  Why would anyone do that?

A triathlon? That’s most definitely in the 2014 plan, mostly because I really can’t find a good enough reason not to.  With a lido down the road and Richmond Park a few miles away as well as a whole group of Chasers to train with, it all seems to fit together quite nicely.  I want to call myself a triathlete.  I don’t even want to be competitive, just to finish (and get some new bling of course but that goes without saying!)

Twitter has opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities.  My newsfeed is full of all these fabulous, wonderful, strong, inspiring and quite frankly fit as hell people who are taking on bigger and bigger challenges.  Everyone’s training for this and that…sub 3 hour marathons, sub 20 min 5ks, new PB’s, 50 mile Ultras, their first triathlon, their 47th marathon, Ironmans, Marathon des Sables…the list is endless and every one of these people inspires me in a different way.

I text my brother last week and asked him if he was up for an Ironman in 2015.  He didn’t think I was crazy, he asked me which one!  Could I do an Ironman?  Am I getting carried away?  I know I can run a marathon, I would still have to put the miles in of course but it would be at a much slower pace than my current marathon training.  I can swim.  I can ride a bike.  Sure, not to any kind of standard and I can’t swim 2.4 miles or cycle 112 miles, but I can train.  Can’t I?  I would need to get a wetsuit and, ermm, a bike, but that’s the easy bit.   Maybe I am crazy.  Maybe I would fall at the first hurdle.  Maybe I need to get myself a PlayStation or a Candy Crush addiction and pipe down.  But maybe, just maybe, I could achieve all these things…

So when is enough enough?  I really don’t know but I know I’m not there yet.