Week 1

13^th – 19^th November

Miles run – 3.66

Amount raised – £0.00

Outlook – Baby steps

So technically my first run back was on Saturday 12^th however it was easier to start this blog from Sunday to Saturday, so we’re discounting that. Therefore, second run, a cheeky little 5k-ish number to get the legs moving. Nothing much to say really managed a 09:30 or so minute mile which is good, gotta get some speed in my legs during all this training. My half marathon in the summer was sloooooow and I don’t really feel yet that I've found my pace. I always feel like I could be running faster, but then on the other hand I never want to wear myself out too much so I don’t push as hard as I could.

Gemma (housemate) tells me one of her colleagues at work helps to run a local athletics club and that she’s told him about me. I’m going to get his number off her as I think that might be helpful to keep me focussed and push me during my training. No sponsorship effort made yet, only just got the justgiving page updated. Will ask close family and friend to start me off before the hard yards start. Preparing a ‘Where in the World is Santa?’ game ready for December as another way to raise some dosh, I think this is especially good in the month before Christmas when people don’t have a lot of money to spare - £1 a go isn’t too expensive and gets some money in the bank early.

Week 0

6^th – 12^th November

So here it begins, getting ready for training week 1 for the London marathon. First I should start with a bit of background I guess, slightly more detail than my justgiving blurb that I posted for my first message above. I am indeed running the marathon next year, with a couple of friends of mine. First is Justine, my running coach and ambition enabler. Justine is a marathon pro, this will be number 4 for her (London, New York and Berlin so far) and she isn’t starting training until the New Year, whereas for us beginners the training starts now. I had agreed in principal to run the Chicago marathon with Justine next year – she’s on her way to completing the big 5. But when she got her spot in the ballot for London our plans changed slightly. We’re now possibly looking at 2013 for Chicago; however I’ll see how London goes first!

The other person we’re running with is Terry; he’s one of Justine’s friends and completed Berlin with her this September, stating at the end I might add that he was never running again! Terry is going to be my companion on the way around the course I think as I think we’re going to be slightly off Justine’s pace and I’m sure she’d love to beat her previous London effort.

My plan is to start getting the long runs in at least before Christmas, build the weekly mileage up gradually and then push on with a major training plan once January comes around. I must admit since the Duathlon in September I’ve done very little running, the occasional parkrun on a Saturday or gentle jog with Hannah, so I’m not looking forward to this very much, I think it’s going to hurt quite a lot.

I’m going to try to blog weekly to update on progress, miles run, how I feel about everything and how I’m doing on the sponsorship front. I’m hoping that doing this will help me to keep motivated and get through the training during the cold winter months.

So it starts here kids, off we go!