6 months of training through wind, rain and snow; waking up early in the morning to go out and put in those miles of running up hills, down country paths, along roads and around reservoirs. I knew April 17th would come along quickly, but its a bit of a daunting thought that I am now just 6 days away from what will be the most difficult challenge I have ever faced.
Have I done enough training?
Have I done the right training?
Have I eaten the right foods?
Do I have the right plan for race day?
All questions which until next Sunday I won't be able to answer, having never ran a marathon before I can't really anticipate how it will go and will just have to do my best and see what happens on the day. In my head I keep thinking I can run it in faster and faster times but realistically I know I just need to hold my pace, not go sprinting off in the first few miles like the ashby race, and see how long I can maintain a steady speed. If I can keep it going for 26 miles then I will be delighted with the time! I know my exact target time, but for you readers, I'll be pleased if its below 4 hours.
Two problems I've had last few weeks are Plantar Fasciitis in my foot, and a muscle strain in my neck just yesterday. The foot has been hurting for months, it won't stop me running, it just hurts a lot whenever I put weight on it so to make the run all the more uncomfortable for me. However the pain was there for the Ashby 20 and it only started to flare up after the race, I think the pain in my legs distracted me from worrying too much about it. I was rather worried yesterday about hurting my neck and went to the doctors after spending about 2 hours lying down with an ice pack, I've been given anti-inflammatorys and they do reduce the pain, I'm fairly confident it will have subsided by Sunday as long as I don't do anything stupid, easier said than done.
A few friends already have said they are coming up to the big race, and it would be amazing to see you there and meet up after the finish! The race starts at 9.45am, there is a spectators guide to the marathon if you use this LINK which will help you know whats going on, if you use the estimates for 3:30 time there or there abouts then you should see me if you keep your eyes peeled, better to be early and wait a few minutes than be late and miss me as my dad and brother found out last time! It will be a great atmosphere on race day and the more the merrier.
Sponsorship has been going well, me and three friends went to London Euston Station on tuesday last week collecting with buckets, we managed to raise £399.23 and am gutted we just missed out on the £400 pound mark but its a great result and a real boost to my fund raising. As race day approaches please do sponsor me as I am very close to my target, I received a number of offline sponsorships yesterday so have only about £500 to go! Please do dig deep, HOPE HIV is a fantastic charity and your money will give young people in Africa a Hope and a future. Here is a short video about what they do:
Another way you could support if you use twitter and think you have potential as a cheerleader or as an inspiring public figure, or you just want to raise your profile, or to try and win £100 for HOPEHIV, then please record and upload your cheer for all the marathon runners to see and be spurred on to the finish line by, instructions are on the video below:
Next blog will hopefully be a happy one, having finished the London Marathon 2011!
After reading your blog it would seem that we share a lot of very similar interests. I am a journalist with the website Citizenside. We are advocates for news as generated by the individual through a smart usage of technology and social media. It seems, through the use of your blog, that this is what you are advocating as well. With regards to the London Marathon, we here at Citizenside are really looking forward to it. We’ve thought up a project that seems like something the writer of this blog might be excited about: we would like to have a gallery of before and after pictures of runners from the marathon. So with two photos - taken on your phone, camera, what be it - we could show a unique perspective of the race. If this is something that would interest you, as I think it might, you can check it out here: http://www.citizenside.com/index.aspx Thanks and best of luck running the marathon!
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