Category: Marathon Blog

I finally have a confirmed Virgin London Marathon 2011 place at last! I phoned Adam Brown from Save The Rhino and he kindly gave me a place. I have to raise £1250 for them and any more over that target will go to the Rainforest Trust. I have to say that is less than the £1800 the Rainforest guys wanted me to raise so I'm not complaining one bit! On with the training then…

Ran 10km at reasonable pace on usual common route up to Tibbets Corner and back, tried listening to music this time, haven't done that for a while, but I was tired and felt like it, had to stop numerous times to sort out the headphone lead and trainers (may need new pair). Finished in about 52mins, hence lot faster than usual. Interested to see what my legs will be like tomorrow after pusing it a bit today.

Well after an email on Monday from Matilda at the Rainforest Alliance, it turns out it could be a two way run-off between myself and a lady called Carol for a place in the marathon

Anyways had a 'marathon meeting' with the Rainforest Alliance folks near Kentish Town tonight after a hectic day at work. Met a couple of guys doing the Brighton Marathon and the other 7 or so of us are doing the London. Matilda gave a nice presentation, didn't know Sting set this thing up, plus gave us some fund raising ideas.

UPDATE: Got a call from Matilda and was told that she had to draw straws between myself and Carol (she was a very nice lady and very enthusiastic + she'd done the Dublin marathon back in 1996) and she won the place. Must admit I'm wasn't entirely surprised, BUT Adam Brown at Save the Rhino does have a place for me an expects a call!

Ran slow 10km in 1:06:12 to see if my legs could take the distance and a bit more and essentially not be entirely knackered the next day.

Hardest part was actually running slower than I wanted to. Usually I can cover 10km sub-50mins fairly comfortably, but I like to push myself and this is not a good idea when there's 3 times that distance to cover. Despite being dark I ran on the common ground, not only because it is nicer on my knees, but also there had been a lot of rain and there were tons of puddles and mud and so it forced me to slow things down a lot. Also the cars coming towards me on the road were a bit scary sometimes.

I'm fairly confident I could run at least 8 miles now at this kind of pace. I've also heard of people who run and then walk parts of the 26 miles distance and this is sounding more and more sensible to me. hmmmm.

The Rainforest Trust gave me a quick call today and confirmed that I have a place in the London Marathon!!

I haven't officially said yes, as I've been contemplating putting it off until 2012 – you know what with the Olympics and everything. Also after Googling 'marathon in 3 months training' and reading that 'yes you could probably do it, but you probably won't be unable to walk for a month afterwards', I was somewhat concerned I'd need a few more weeks. Most regimes say you need 16-18 weeks instead of 12.

I sent an email to my running expert friend Nico who's run a couple of marathons now and will wait to see what he says…Nico replied asap, he's hoping to run a sub 3 hour this year and said he reckons I should be alright to finish it. thanks a lot Nico you've really helped me a lot on this one.

Despite not being (sure about) being accepted to run in the marathon yet, decided I had to get a bit fitter anyways and at least 'wake up my legs' so to speak, so went for a 10km run over the common. It's been a couple of months since my last run and probably a year since I ran a real 10k. Luckily as I'm blessed with supreme athleticism as well as good looks, I hoped I'd be able to cover the distance still. There was a light rain when I set out at about 3:30pm and wearing my finest track suit bottoms and green army cap I set out. By the time I got to the common it was getting rather dark. I happened to run past a couple holding hands and caught a sense of a glance from then, as it turned out, incredibly it was my friend Kathryn whom I hadn't seen in a while. I should point out it's more amazing she spotted me in that army hat than anything else, perhaps it was my distinctive running style of something. Anyways had a nice chat with her and caught up a bit…and after being inspired by that I finished the 10k in around about 50mins, which was surprising since it's been so long, even did a major sprint at the end.

When I got home, I had some food and with leg muscles starting to kick in, I immediately headed down David Lloyd (where I've conveniently signed up for their December £5 12 day membership) and happily made full use of their sauna, steam room and jacuzzi spa, to relieve my now 'woken up' legs!

Well the Rainforest Trust sent me an entry form for the London Marathon. It contained quite a few scary questions like have you ever done this kind of thing before, have you collected money for charities before! Anyways after a phone call from them, I finally filled it in a couple of days later as best I can and sent it off.

Got an email today from the Rainforest Trust about London Marathon places – "would you like to run it for us?" – they're some charity I ran a 5km round Battersea Park for (well my friend Dom and his wife Pip asked me if I'd like to run it and I said yes) and a 10km for them a couple of years ago round Finsbury Park. Anyways I replied and said Yes I'd be interested. Wonder what will happen now…:)