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



Saturday, 13 March 2010

Had a better run yesterday, not as long as we would've liked but was generally injury-free, woohoo!

Came back home to a lovely roast and mash, lots of wine, chocolate pudding and good chat - nice one! Got the long Sunday run tomorrow, uh-oh, all the bridges in London, eep! We'll see...

Starting to worry about fundraising, lots of people are all talk and no trousers, I might have to try new tactics - nagging/threats/bullying/emotional blackmail etc. £800 seems a long way off :(

All suggestions welcome! I'm thinking of starting a sweepstake, I've checked with SOS and there's no reason why not, but if people are technically 'entering a competition' they can't tick the gift aid box so I don't think I should do it through justgiving - it'll get a bit confusing. I might just take a spreadsheet everywhere I go and collect money from people when I see them. Not sure about it yet, hmmm.

Thursday, 11 March 2010

Went for a bad run yesterday after work - multiple injuries :(

I have a gammy-Forrest Gump-penguin-flipper type foot issue, and James was still recovering from his half-marathon on Sunday. We managed down to Battersea Park, round it once and then decided to walk back.

Morale has been better but hey-ho, there's bound to be pitfalls! Think I should book myself in for a physio MOT and find out what I need to do (other than rest/ice/massage/specialist insoles/ingainly stretches and all the other bumpf I've taken on board). This really is an investment in so many ways but there's no turning back. I may have to drag myself over the finish line with my fingernails as they may be the only functioning body part left, but dammit if that's what it takes...

Friday night run tomorrow, here's hoping it can only get better!

Tuesday, 9 March 2010

Oh, and another thing...

As you can see on the left, I'm naming my miles after films as a positive psychological tactic. They needn't be great films but should either be vaguely relevant (i.e. Happy Feet), or have a catchy theme tune that I can sing in my head as I run. Or they should be funny. Or silly. Or whatever.

Please let me know any suggestions, I will take them all on board, donators get special mile-naming dispensation!
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.