Bye bye Double Espresso :,(

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Awesome run today :) ! - getting closer to run consistently under 4min per Km. It looks like the return after Xmas has not been as dramatic as the last year when a mixture of awful viruses and the typical Xmas laziness made me crawl well into spring to recover all the hard work in late 2012.

What helps me go running in winter well into the dark, after a long day when I have not even had the time to sit in my desk for more than 10 mins in a row? Yes, the same one that helps go through my day: coffee!

Just a couple of days ago talking about Living below the line a friend mention to me that most possibly the thing I will be missing the most is my double espresso... Well, not just the one... all the four I will be missing. Each of them for its own particular reason...

Since a double espresso is somewhere between 1 and 2 pounds (or free if the office coffee counts), let's say that three days worth of coffee would eat my whole budget for My Hunger Games pretty much.

It is curious that just the drug we need to keep us switched on is more expensive than the food others can afford for a day. Just the one.

Having said that I think that I will be saying good bye to my favourite coffee shop for a couple of weeks and say hello to my thermo flask :) I am hoping that with a packet of 227g of ground coffee (cheapest around 2 pounds) I can make myself coffee for the duration of My Hunger Games :)

And may the odds be ever in our favour! ;)

Living below the line with a Twist.

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I have been wanting to run my first Ultramarathon for the last couple of years but I can't really find the space for that in my life right now. I envy these crazy seekers of the human-self limits but running almost every single day of the week, including a couple of almost full marathons is something I'd love but there is just no way. Not saying it is still not happening sometime soon :)

So there needed to be something I could do in the meantime which wasn't just boring everyone with another marathon. It is just so yesterday :)

At some point last year I got an email from Unicef which was organizing an interesting campaign to bring awareness on the lives of all of those living below the poverty line. This has been defined somehow as living below £1 a day, which varies depending on the country for various reasons.

According to Unicef over 1,200 people across the UK took on the 2013 Live Below the Line challenge for UNICEF. They decided to live on £1 a day for a week to gain first-hand insight into the lives of people living below the poverty line. In the 2013 Campaign an amazing £153,170 was raised to make a lasting difference to the lives of children.

So you can see where I am going, can't you? :)

My Hunger Games will consist of 2 weeks living below the line, on a £1 a day ration, during which I will race a total of 84Km (or around 52 miles) divided into two half marathons and the Brighton marathon to finish this journey.

I am pretty sure this is going to be an interesting experience which I will be sharing with you, starting now which is when my after-Xmas training starts!!

Oh, and this is a picture of one my heroes this year, Valenti SanJuan, right after he finished his Cavalls del Vent 100Km across unforgiving mountains! I am sure I'll have the chance to introduce you to this inspiration of mine during this journey :)

Sponsor My Hunger Games

My Hunger Games - INTRO

Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favour! :)
(Spanish Here)

The Challenge

2 Weeks on a £1 a day subsistence budget and 3 Races - 84Km

The Races - March/April 2014

23rd March - HASTINGS HALF

30th March - CROYDON HALF

6th April - BRIGHTON MARATHON

The Cause

Raise funds for UNICEF

How to be Awesome and be part of this? :)

http://www.justgiving.com/MarcosHungerGames