So in my role as The Lullaby Trust London Marathon blogger I hope you don’t expect me to bestow pearls of running wisdom, tales of amazing feats of endurance and times that Mo Farah would be extremely proud of. Sorry to disappoint you, but if I do somehow give you little golden nuggets of running know how and insight within this blog over the next few months, it was purely by accident and I didn’t mean it.
I might be doing myself a disservice. I am not a novice at putting my right foot in front of my left foot in that sequence several hundreds or thousands of times at a pace that some might refer to as slow, but on other occasions can be surprisingly quick. I have been running on and off for about the past four years, I’ve even managed a couple of half-marathons last year. In fact, I raised nearly £3000 for The Lullaby Trust by completing them, but trying to finish a marathon, well that’s something totally different.
See, after I managed to haul my backside around the two half marathons last year, I instantly said to myself that I would not do a half marathon again. I would flat refuse, even if my brain had told me that running in a half marathon would be a good idea, I had organised a secret pact with my legs and agreed that they would not work properly if I tried to do it again.
However, my brain was clever, it could see that my legs and I were in cahoots. So thinking outside the box, my brain decided to sew a little tiny seed. This seed is chiefly referred to as ‘The London Marathon’. My brain cared for and tended that seed until one day I woke up and there it was at the front of my mind, I was going to attempt a marathon. I was dismayed, I asked my brain ‘Why did you do such a cruel thing, you know I’m susceptible to stupid ideas?’ My brain was quick to reply. ‘You said you didn’t want to do a half marathon again but I don’t recall you ever telling me the thought of running 26.2 miles should be filed in the folder marked ‘Lunacy’ as well. Technically, my brain was correct and now I was in an awkward situation as I knew that my legs (predominantly my knees) were vehemently against running anything more than a casual jog around the country lanes.
So less than 6 months after my brief foray into long distance running had ended, I was once again looking at training schedules, nutritional supplements and new ways to raise funds for The Lullaby Trust. I bought my legs a new pair of trainers as a peace offering, but to this day we still have a fractious relationship.
Taking on such a task requires planning and I have thought long and hard about how I intend on handling the various obstacles thrown before me (don’t worry, when I say obstacles I mean time pressures, quality family time, seeing friends, work commitments, not actual, physical obstacles – as if the marathon isn’t sadistic enough).
Despite my apprehension about running a marathon, and I am sure all of us have that niggling doubt in our heads, I actually enjoy running and I’m sure in future blogs I may go into more detail about why I find it quite addictive and why I am running the marathon. In fact I have been running at least 2-3 times per week for the past six months. So I’ve decided to split my training into two phases. Everything I do pre-January is really to construct a solid fitness foundation to build upon in the New Year when I step up to 4 months of marathon training. I am hoping that the frequency and intensity of the training in January will not be so much of a shock to the body with this plan. I have yet to decide on a marathon training plan, but I am currently looking at various 16 week plans to see what best suits my lifestyle (If anyone can recommend any I would be grateful for any input)
Anyway, that’s enough from my for starters, I best get running.
www.virginmoneygiving.com/mark_carlton