The Bare Facts...

What: The Edinburgh Marathon



When: Sunday 23rd May 2010 @ 10am



Who: Me, James Post and Alan Woolston



How Far: 26.2 miles / 41 Km



In aid of: the Sumatran Orangutan Society



Donation Target (min): £800



Current Total: £540



Tuesday, 9 March 2010

Hokay, let's get this thing on the go...

My plan is to keep a record of my training, how it's going, what it's like, and also to keep a log of my fundraising, new ideas and anything marathon-related. Suggestions, comments and input are most encouraged! I would like to point out to all people like me (shy of a little exercise, nervous of sport in general) that until you try you really would not believe what you can make your body do in a short amount of time!

Brief history of my training to date:

November: started training with 2 to 3 short runs a week around Clapham Common (about 1.7 miles). Really tough at first but got used to it surprisingly fast! The plan is to do about 3 comfortable runs in the week and a long run on Sundays, increasing them all gradually. End of Nov - up to 6 miles for the Sunday run (ouch)!

December: - had a big fat indulgent Christmas break (unintentionally) but managed my first 1 hour run, nice and slow. Ate a lot of chocolate. Drank a lot of wine.

January: - new year, good intentions n'all that. Still doing some 2 mile runs in the week but really building up the Sunday runs!
James (jack of all trades - brother, trainer, task master, entertainer) has been designing the Sunday runs so that they're always different, interesting and humourously named; Born to Run (Guy's Hospital - home), Deer oh Deer (Richmond Park) etc.
Went to a specialist running shop for some trainers - I tried on about 4 different pairs and ran up and down the street in them while the lady assessed my footfall. Big white trainers, skinny jeans, humiliating. Very good though, feel kitted out! End of Jan - up to 7.5 miles!

February: - having to leave behind the 2 milers now, upping the weekday runs to about 4-5 miles. New Sunday run: Run and Hyde! (To Hyde Park and back again). Exhibition Road on a Sunday lunchtime is not fun to manouvre, stupid people and tourists and kids and stuff, grr. We're starting to use energy foods on the long runs - bars are like sawdust, gel packs are like tar, shot blocks, however, are like giant jelly fruit gums, my new favourite! Started facebook group so please check it out, there'll be a link from my page...

March: - a little way in but not going too badly. 'Easy' runs in the week are now down to Battersea Park and back up (5-6 miles depending on how we do it). It's very peaceful up by the river in the evenings. James did a half-marathon which looked really good/painful, lots of hills and mud! Long runs are now around 10 miles and feeling pretty comfortable! I've got a bit of an injury (iliotibial band strain - or hurty knee to you and me) from road running (beep beep!).

If anybody has any fundraising suggestions or would like to dress up as an orangutan please let me know! I'm quite short on time on a day to day basis so I feel a bit limited in terms of fundraising 'events' - e-fundraising is definitely preferable, not that I'm lazy or anything.

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