I'm running the London Marathon 2010 for ChildLine

Monday 28 September 2009

I've made a start

I'm officially part of the ChildLine team now, so my JustGiving account is working, and I've made a start on figuring out how I'm going to get around this course.  Thanks to those who have sponsored me already - it is really appreciated!

The event is about 7 months away, which seems like plenty of time, but it soon passes and I don't want to be on the starting line wishing that I'd done more to prepare.

I need to figure out a training programme.  I'm starting from an 'OK' level of fitness, but that isn't going to be good enough to get around this course.  I've looked at gadgets in the past that monitor heartrate and distance travelled etc, on training routes.  Something like this has been recommended to me by a few people, so I will look at these again.  It is possible to integrate these devices with sites such as http://www.runsaturday.com/ which record the data and are great motivators for tracking and improving fitness over time. 

I was chatting to my father in law over the weekend who was a keen marathon runner in his time.  He was saying that he was doing 70 miles a week whilst training for his events!  To be totally honest, this is out of my reach.  I'm going for more like 30-40 miles a week, and building up to that fairly gradually.  We'll see how I get on, but some training guides I've seen on the Internet suggest 30-40 miles as acceptable for someone who wants to get around the course.

I've also been looking at training routes from my house.  The 3 half marathons I've done in the past have all been the Torbay Half Marathon.  I live quite close to this route, and most of my road running has been done on this route.  However, as I'm going to need to start upping the amount of runs I go out on, I could do with saving the 40-50min round trip to get to the Torbay Half Marathon course.  I've been looking at things like http://www.mapmyrun.com to find suitable routes, of different distances, from my house.

Finally, today I went for a small road run today and did 4.5miles in about 45mins.  It was my first road run since this years Torbay Half Marathon in June, and it wasn't too bad.  At least I can say I've made a start this week, but I'm not underestimating the amount of work I have to do!

Wednesday 23 September 2009

First post from me, and why I've put myself in for the London Marathon!

Hi all.  Welcome to my blog!

I'm hoping that I will get to update this blog quite regularly along the way to hopefully running in the London Marathon on Sunday 25th April 2010.  I've provided a bit of information on the left hand side of the blog as a starter and hopefully this site will grow over the next few weeks/months.

I don't want to overdo this, but I know that this is going to be a big challenge for me.  I've completed 3 half marathons before, but I know that this is a huge step up in terms of commitment to training and the physical and mental aspects of getting around a marathon course.

A few words about what has motivated me to enter.  There are three things really, in no particular order.

Firstly, since I've been running half marathons, there's been a nagging doubt, wondering if I would actually be able to do a full marathon.  Certainly, after each one that I've completed I've thought that people must be mad to consider a full marathon, but having said that I was full of admiration for them.


I trained quite hard for the first half marathon that I completed and actually found it reasonably easy, although I did suffer with a knee problem.  The second and third ones I didn't train as much for, but still got around.  Therefore, I'm hoping that if I get the training in I will be able to get around a full course.  At this point, I can honestly say I'm not even considering a time....I just want to get around.  Alongside this is the fact that I need some kind of goal to help keep me motivated in terms of maintaining a reasonable level fitness, so this probably just what I need.

Secondly, I went to London to watch the Marathon in 2009.  It really is a great event to watch even as a spectator, so being a part of that as a runner must be a great experience.  We were there to watch my Sister-in-Law who ran brilliantly, and it was great to see her at a couple of points in the event, along with the elite runners, the masses and some famous faces along the way.  I love London anyway, and when the first thought of 'I wonder if I can run a Marathon?' came to my mind, the London Marathon was the only choice.  At this point, I can say that this will probably my first and last one, so I may as well make it one to remember!

The third point is an upsetting one initially, but something I'm trying to use as a positive.  My grandmother unfortuantely passed away earlier in the year, which is obviously sad.  She had a great life though and was a fan of sport in general, so I thought it a good idea to use the sad event in a positive and slightly unusual way.  Following that, I've pledged any money that I raise from selling unwanted goods (kitchen applicances, TV's, furniture etc) from my grandmother's house to the NSPCC/ChildLine as part of raising the £1800 required.  As I write this, the spreadsheet I'm keeping is at about £500, which is fantastic.  It is a great cause, and I'm proud to be part of their team.

Anyway, that's a bit about me and why I'm doing this.  There'll be more soon I hope.