End of chapter one

It's the end of October. One hundred and seventy eight days remain until I run the marathon. Time to take stock and see how things are going.


My best distance remains a nose over nine miles. (9.19). I'm capable of running for over ninety minutes without stopping (slowing to a gentle trot so I can drink doesn't count). I am still able to walk around once the run is over.

I'm doing my best, dang it!

I can do more. I know I can do more. The hard part is trying to push it there. If I can reach two hours - or, even better, thirteen miles - I'll be thrilled. I'd love to be able to hit that milestone before the end of the year. The hard part will be trying to do that given the cold and limited hours of sunlight.


Is this good enough? I truly don't know. My limited knowledge of absolutely every single part of this process says that I'm doing okay, but could be better. That's the way I always seem to challenge myself - okay, but could be better. It spurs me onward. I know I can do more. I want to do more. There are a lot of people counting on me. I can't let them down.


So far, I'm still enjoying it. Spent some quality time at the gym yesterday and really enjoyed going back to the Church of Gains. Running on a treadmill is much stranger than running on a road. Maybe I'll discuss that in more detail soon.


One hundred and seventy eight days to go. Plenty of miles still to rack up. Plenty of training still to be done. Plenty of money still to be raised. I can do this. I hope so, anyway...

Preparing for the long, cold winter

It's October 30th and this morning I had to de-ice the car windscreen. People have been saying for a few weeks that we're due a long, cold winter and it seems to be here already. This is going to add a whole new layer of difficulty to my training. I don't like leaving the house at the best of times (why go running when you can eat crisps and sit in front of the computer?), so even thought of going for a run is enough to make me shiver right now. And this is just the start of the cold season - who knows how low the temperatures will fall over the coming months?

I think not!

In addition to this, the nights are drawing in fast. It's already dark by the time I get home from work, meaning that my usual running circuit in the park - the place I've been training every session for the past five months - is now unusable. No lights. Just dog walkers and their terrifyingly demented demon hounds. This means I'm going to have to work out a new route for my laps that will keep in relatively well-lit areas. It's hard enough to find the motivation to run in the cold - throw in the darkness, and you've got a sure-fire way to make me stay home and not want to leave.


I've been trying to find ways to prepare for the chill, figuring that if one problem is solved, the other won't feel so major. I've got my long-sleeved shirts and my gloves. I have a thin, light, waterproof jacket that's perfect against the wind. The problem is my legs. To that end, I've ordered running tights from Amazon. Yes, men's tights. The manliest thing a guy can wear in public.

As masculine as these fine fellows.

Don't worry, you'll get photos of me in all my glory. I'm gonna wear them, so you're gonna see them. There's no way to know if this will really work. If the snows and the rains and the winds turn all my plans to mush (a scenario that is highly likely, after all), then I'll have to resort to plan B - the gym.


Luckily, my former gym is running a special offer that expires tomorrow, 31/10 - half price membership for three months and no joining fee. That should hopefully sustain me through the worst of the winter. If that doesn't work, I really don't know what else to do.

Things I learned from actual marathon runners

By total chance, I ended up talking with two completely separate people this past weekend, both of whom have run marathons before. Here's the best advice I can remember:


Eat a shedload of carbs the night before


I was vaguely aware that certain foods were better than others for running, but this definitely pointed me in the right direction. Apparently I'll need to fuel up the night before in order to get my body in the right place for releasing energy over a long distance.


This prompted me to have a look online, where I found this amazing article, all about the right way to load your body for maximum distance running. Stuff like this makes my head spin. I always thought that running was about, you know, running, but no. There's so much more to it that I need to learn and absorb and remember.


Don't get too excited on the start line


When the big day comes, I'll be among thousands of other runners, surrounded by crowds of cheering people. It will be very easy to let this atmosphere and excitement get to my head and bolt off the starting line at Mach 10. I have to be prepared for this and remind myself not to get swept up in the excitement. This seems to be the part that hobbles many runners early on - giving too much too soon because the crowds spur them onward.

Run faster, they're watching!

Don't worry about keeping a specific pace


I mentioned my current goal of running 10K in roughly seventy minutes and received a derisive scoff in response. 'Don't worry about pacing yourself,' he said. 'It's your first time, just focus on reaching the finish line.'


The man has a point. Maybe I'm aiming too high on my first attempt. My personal goal of finishing in less than six hours is perfectly reasonable, but anything beyond that is crazy. (For the record, one former runner I spoke with managed to complete a marathon in three hours fifty nine minutes, while the other has a personal best of two hours fifty minutes). They both advised me to focus on finishing. Time doesn't matter. Pace is irrelevant. Just get to the end.


You can only train up to twenty miles


This is fascinating because I didn't know what the limits were, but apparently the human body can only be trained to endure so much. After twenty miles, it's all on you. All on your own. All off your own back. Reaching twenty miles sounds a hell of a lot more feasible than running for twenty six. In fact, if my goal is to train to hit that magic two-zero mark, then I'm almost halfway there already! That's pretty damn good news.


...all of this means that, sometime in the long ago, somebody ran for twenty miles and said, 'You know what? Let's add another six and call it a sport.' That sadistic arse-monkey.


Most of it is mental


Your legs are pistons. You control the muscles. All you have to do is keep telling yourself to run. Keep moving. Don't stop.

So long as I don't end up like this, I'm fine...

I also got to ask a few more questions that have been on my mind, such as, 'How frequent are the water stations?' (every couple of miles, with extra people handing out bottles in between) and, 'How does it feel to cross the finish line?' (indescribable). I've been doing plenty of reading about the science of running and the best ways to prepare, but the truth is that all this will most likely become irrelevant once the day comes. After that, it's all on me. Just hope I don't sprint the first mile like a fool and blow all my energy too soon.

Let's talk about nipple chafing

A few years back, when I was a relatively regular fixture at my local gym, I decided to test myself on the treadmill and find out if my portly frame could complete a 5K jog. Imagine my surprise when I actually managed to go through with it, finishing the entire distance in around thirty minutes without stopping once. It was a great moment, a huge achievement for a guy like me, whose cardio routine was non-existent and whose strongest muscle was his gaming thumb.


I paid hell for it the next day. Because I hadn't prepared for such intense activity, my body suffered a new world of hurt. My inner thighs were chafed red-raw - damn near blistered in fact - and every little movement caused my legs to rub together, sending fresh waves of pain through me. It was like I had scrubbed my legs with sandpaper.

Similar to this picture.

I thought it was the worst pain anyone could possibly experience. I was wrong.


There is one sensation far more painful, far more uncomfortable, and far more agonising than chaffed thighs. Chafed nipples.


After twenty minutes of continuous running, you're gonna be pretty damn sweaty. If you're wearing a loose top, that piece of fabric is gonna be shaking and bumping with every movement. Once that top gets wet, it'll cling to your chest like a needy child, gently grazing a very sensitive part of your anatomy. You see where I'm going with this?


There is no pain on this world more excruciating than chafed nipples. Put your 'childbirth V kicked in the nuts' debate to the side - this is something else entirely. No matter how many times you shower, the pain won't go away. You can rub antiseptic cream into your nipple (making little 'Ooh-oh-ah!' noises as you do), but the pain won't fade. And, unless you plan to sit around shirtless afterward, you've gotta put fresh clothes on, making the pain even worse.


If you run for too long without planning ahead, your nipples will bleed. Mine did. It was both excruciating and embarrassing. Even worse when it starts to heal. I didn't realise how bad it was until I got in the shower. It looked like I had been lactating strawberry milk. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as this:

Look at his face. He knows true pain.

If chafed thighs felt like a sandpaper injury, chafed nipples felt like being rubbed down with a cheese grater. A cheese grater covered in broken glass. And bathed in salt afterwards. In a tub filled with acid.


Fortunately, there are ways to prevent this agony from ever happening. You can rub Vaseline (or similar) into your nipples before you run. This will eventually wash off with enough sweat, but it will protect for at least the first nine miles, in my experience. Another good way to avoid the dread nipple chafe is to wear tighter shirts. Don't go for a long run wearing those loose workout shirts. They're filled with tiny airholes, making the rub far more extreme than it would be in a regular t-shirt. I've started running in tight compression shirts. These are lightweight enough to be comfortable and designed to cling to the skin without bobbing around while you run. They're fantastic, and you can get loads of great designs:

Yes, I do run around in public dressed like a superhero.

If you've never experienced nipple chafing before, take my advice: you don't want to. Plan ahead. Don't be cocky. Or your nipples will pay!

Wednesday & the tale of the demon dog

For the first time, I ran wearing gloves. It turned out to be a smart move and definitely helped keep me on the road for longer. I managed 13-14 laps of the park (lost count somewhere around ten), before the sun finally set and I was forced to take it on the road for a long loop home. May have bitten off more than I could chew on the final stretch - the long red line between seven miles and the hard left bend is all uphill. But Billy Big-Balls here said, No, I'm a marathon runner, I can make it up a poxy hill. Had to walk the last hundred metres or so up that damned incline before I could get my breath back and recover. But eight miles in the cold and the dark is pretty dang good. I'm planning to change up my schedule and run on Saturday instead of tomorrow, to give myself a chance to do something different.



Since taking up serious (if what I do can be called serious) running three times a week, I've been neglecting my usual HIIT workouts at home. To remedy this, I've decided to add a short core-oriented workout to Tuesday and Thursday evenings as a way of boosting my body to be able to absorb the punishment of ninety-plus minutes' continuous running.

My first session was Tuesday and I'm already feeling new kind of pain today. Instead of that constant, dull back ache, my stomach muscles seem to be in revolt. You know how your stomach clenches and spasms after you're violently sick and can't throw up anymore? Yeah, that's what I'm feeling today. That probably means it's working and I need to keep going. I'm sure that's exactly the best course of action.

Funny story from yesterday's run:

I have a slight phobia of dogs (maybe I'll talk about it some time), and the park where I run is a very popular destination for dog walkers. I spend a lot of my running time fleeing in terror or dodging curious canines. It's probably hilarious to anybody watching, but I really don't like dogs. I don't care how small, cute, or friendly. I'm afraid of them.

So yesterday I was nearing the end of my laps. The light was fading fast. No moon in the cloud-strewn sky. My mind was on other matters - where to run once the light disappeared completely, what I'm eating later, etc - and I near one particular stretch of the park. This part of my lap was mostly in darkness; thick tree branches hung overhead, casting deep, impenetrable shadows over the path; to my left was a high stone wall; to my right, a hedge about six feet high. It's like the Death Star trench.

Just as I was about to enter this part of the lap, a black dog emerged from the gloom, blocking my path. Around its neck was a flashing collar composed of red LED lights that illuminated part of the dog's face - namely its grinning, sneering, toothy snout.

Imagine that for a moment. Pretend you're running in the oncoming darkness. Pretend you're afraid of dogs. Pretend you're about to enter the darkest part of your lap. Imagine that a dog steps out in front of you, looking like the exact description of the Hound of the Baskervilles:

I have never been more terrified in my life. It didn't matter that the dog was smaller than my shin bone. It didn't matter that the dog's owners were right behind. It didn't matter that I probably could have taken that animal in a fair fight. All I saw was a four-legged demon.

So what did I do? Aside from damn near soiling myself, I made a kind of high-pitched, Yeep noise and ran past it, ready to take a swing if it turned in my direction. Luckily the beast's appetite for human flesh was sated at that particular moment; it chose to let me escape in peace.

That was when I decided to get the hell out of the park and finish my run on the road.

'I could never run a marathon...'

Time for a short rant.

I've been getting a lot of people talking to me about this crazy event and most of them say various versions of the same phrase:


'I could never run a marathon.'

Excuse me? Why not? You think I can run a marathon? Do you think I came out of the womb and ran a victory lap of the hospital? No, of course not. What makes us so different? Nothing. I started at the same place as everyone else - absolute zero. I couldn't run a full minute without wheezing like a busted radiator. I couldn't make it through ten minutes of my training cycle without sitting down on a bench and praying for death to take my sweat-drenched soul to a higher plane.


So when people say that they could never run a marathon, it bothers me. Because you can. Anyone can. All you need is time to practice and figure out how to train your body. Everybody starts from the same place, even machines like Usain Bolt, or human-dolphin hybrids like Michael Phelps. You start at zero and build up.


It's the same with everything - running, working out, painting, reading, tying shoelaces, cooking, sewing, writing, acting, everything - you start from zero and work up. The first time you do it, you'll wonder what the hell you're doing wrong. Your first attempt will never turn out the way you think it will. But that's okay! It doesn't need to be great. You won't paint the Mona Lisa or write War and Peace or run twenty six miles on your first time. Not your second or third, either.


But with time and practice and hard work and dedication, you can run a marathon. You can paint the Mona Lisa. You can do anything you want. A quick bit of maths tells me that I've only been running for a total of seventy-two sessions. Probably less because I haven't always managed to hit three times a week. Just think about that. I started running in painful, shuffling, embarrassing thirty minute sessions after work. Now I'm running for ninety minutes. Still don't have a clue what I'm doing, but I'm doing it.


For me, running was just a hobby, a way to get extra steps on my tracker for the workplace fitness challenge. I never took it seriously, even when I finally ran for thirty minutes without sitting on a bench to quietly die in a sweaty heap. In fact, I'm still not taking it seriously. If I do that, it won't be fun anymore.


That's all I did to train. Thirty minutes, three times a week. That's the length of one film, split across seven days. Not a huge time investment. Not a big ask. Not a massive burden. Thirty minutes is nothing. It's the length of a commute to work. One TV show. Half a lunch break.


So when people say to me, 'I could never run a marathon', it gets under my skin. Why couldn't you? What's holding you back? You have two working legs and the ability to stand upright - you could run a marathon if you wanted. What do you do instead of running? Do you sit down in front of the TV and spend your free time slowly wasting away? Do you paint the Mona Lisa or write the next War and Peace? (If you do either of those, fair play...) I'm the same - I spend hours every week sat in front of my computer, or playing videogames on the sofa. But I know that these things aren't enhancing my life, so they have to take a back seat to training.


My point is this: nobody is telling you not to run a marathon. Nobody except you. Don't go through life beating yourself up or telling yourself what you can't do. Anybody can run a marathon, all it takes is practice, like everything else in life. By the time April 28th comes around, I'll have been running (or jogging, or painfully shuffling, whatever you want to call it) for a fraction over eleven months. I have no formal training and no long-term goals. I'm going to keep running and try to stay in shape for as long as possible. That's all I'm going to do. Hell, I have no idea if I'll even continue this fitness regime after my wedding next year. Once the ring is on, I'll shove doughnuts down my gaping maw until my wife is forced to shop for wheelbarrows to help me move.


But even when I'm running and gasping and wheezing through the streets of London, I will still remember how it all started and how bad and painful and difficult those first few sessions were. I started at zero and worked my way toward this incredible goal. Eleven months, three times a week.


If I can do it, anyone can.

Monday's run & training thoughts

Despite my lack of motivation and general lethargy, I did convince myself to go for a run yesterday. Unfortunately, I had to cut it short as the light began to fade and the temperature started to plummet.

For a brief moment, I ran laps of the park beneath the bright face of a waxy yellow moon. It was strangely peaceful and serene; listening to my music, far away from the hustle and bustle, left to my own devices. Then I realised that I couldn't see the trees or the dogs or the cyclists and it was getting quite dangerous. As the weather continues to turn, I'm going to need to come up with more suitable alternatives. I'd prefer not to run along busy roads and streets, but it might come to that.

In other news, I discovered that one lap of the estate where I work is almost exactly one mile. This is really cool. If I can drive here on the weekend, this place will make for an excellent practice track - flat, smooth, and firm, almost exactly what I'm expecting London to be.



So how am I doing? Part of me wants to believe that I'm doing really well. Still just over five months to go and I'm capable of running 1/3 the total length. I'd be absolutely delighted if I can bump that up to at least half. If I can run thirteen miles on the day, I can hold my head up high. Everything is still part of the learning curve - drinking protein shakes when I get home, cursing myself for forgetting to use Vaseline, trying to eat right, etc. - but it's slowly becoming more natural.

One of the biggest problems I'm encountering is that my core isn't strong enough for the distances I'm running. Once I get home (and stretch, shower, change), my back begins to ache as though I've been slouching all day. It's a dull, continuous, monotonous ache in the lower spine that nags like you wouldn't believe. Fortunately, yoga stretches go a long way to alleviating this agony, but that's just a short-term solution. I'm going to need to improve my stomach (let's get some washboard abs too, ha-ha!) if I'm going to keep running these distances.

In other news, I've been featured on the company's LinkedIn profile and my efforts have been shared on the official Twitter page! I'm still a long way from my goals - both physical and charity - but there's still enough time to rectify that.



Summoning the energy and the willpower

It's Monday. The start of a new week. Time to begin thinking and planning my next runs. How far will I go? How warm will it be? Should I bring two bottles of water? Will I run for seven miles, or eight?


But you know what my problem is? Right now I simply can't be bothered today. I don't have the energy. The very idea of going home and changing into my running gear makes my eyes roll up into my head. Why on earth would I want to go for a ninety minute run when I could do literally anything else? I'm finding it so difficult to summon the necessary willpower that a part of me - that quiet voice in the back of my head, the voice that whispers, It's okay, take a second slice of cake - is telling me that I shouldn't bother at all today.


I've felt this way before, many times. It's okay to have these moments, to not be 100% emotionally invested and willing to go through with it. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go home. I'm going to toss my work clothes in the wash basket. I'm going to put on my shorts and my Captain America running shirt and I'm going to lace up my trainers go for a damn run.


No matter how I feel before it begins, the moment my feet start pounding the pavement, all those thoughts will disappear. I'll find the willpower inside me. Today it's hiding just out of sight. Once I start, I'll find it again. I always do.


Friday report:

Finally cracked nine miles! Felt utterly amazing. Someday soon I'll be hitting double digits. I can hardly wait. Sadly my friend Tom couldn't make it (due to a nasty sprain that has left half his foot looking like a flesh-coloured watermelon), so I went out solo. Sometimes the best encouragement comes from within.

The most important meal of the day

Every night, I make sure to take a couple of minutes and prepare my breakfast for the next day. At the moment, I'm trying to continue slimming down as much as possible (and have less bulk to haul through London next year...), so my breakfast choices have changed recently.


I used to eat cereal every day, but that has several major flaws. Firstly, you have to eat a lot of cereal to feel full. Secondly, most cereals (the tasty ones at least) are packed with saturates and sugars. Thirdly, you need a lot of milk in the bowl or it doesn't work.


A few months back, I switched my breakfast to something much healthier - yoghurt, fruits, and porridge oats. It's a really tasty, filling, and - mostly importantly - low calorie breakfast that definitely puts me in the right frame of mind for the rest of the day. You don't even need that much, either. I use maybe a handful of frozen blueberries (or strawberries, or pineapple, whatever bags I can find in the freezer section of the supermarket, or fresh banana if there's one to hand). Combine that with two or three spoons of low-fat natural yoghurt (roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of a pot) and one scoop of porridge oats, and that's breakfast sorted.


According my calorie calculator (I use Fitbit), this weighs in at around 200 - 250 calories, easily half that of a bowl of cereal. Plus, it's more filling! Win-win.


I don't eat this every day. Sometimes - a weekend, for instance - I like to splash out and have a treat, like a sausage sandwich or a full English. There's no harm in eating these things, or having larger, more fatty breakfasts, but the key is moderation. You can't eat these things every day. Nothing good will come of it.


Now that I've bored everyone by yammering on about food and calories... my update for today is short and sweet. I'm aiming to go for a run around the park tonight with my friend Tom. He's the more experienced runner I've briefly mentioned in an earlier post. It will be really great to run with someone else and see what we can do together. That will be my third (and probably final) run for this week.

Wednesday's run

Managed a pretty good run yesterday, in a pretty decent time. Despite all my waffle about finding a good pace, I'm still running too fast to maintain it for longer distances. I need to work on this if I want to stand a hope in hell of getting through the marathon.

I say all this as though it's obvious, but I have absolutely no idea. Someone else told me that 70 mins/ 10K was a decent pace, so that's what I'm aiming to do. I have zero real experience in running for long distances and I've never taken part in any kind of event like this before. Everything I'm doing is totally from scratch and off my own back. I'm running as much as I can and learning more with each lap.

It feels both incredible and amazing that I'm capable of running for the length of a short movie. Less than six months ago, the thought of running for two minutes continuously was absurd. I still remember getting completely gassed and needing to sit down on a bench during my very first week of training, when all I had to do was run for sixty seconds. This is already a hell of an achievement; one that I can always look back on with pride. I've done this much. Sure, there's a long way still to go, but every time I look back on the road I've already taken, my heart swells. I never thought I'd be able to do this. Not once. And here I am.

So far, so good

First thing's first: I've set up a Facebook page to gain additional support and try to shove my efforts down the throats of as many people as possible. If you have Facebook and want additional pictures of a fat guy huffing and puffing his way through some kind of vague fitness regime, come and follow me. I'll be keeping this blog alive to post my thoughts, feelings and general impressions of the process over the next six months.


At the moment, I'm running three times a week, as I've mentioned before. My current schedule is Monday, Wednesday, Friday, though this is always subject to change, depending on the weather/ available time/ my energy levels. My attitude is that I need to run three times a week. That's what the Couch to 5K app had me doing, that's what trainers at the gym recommend, that's what I'll stick to.


The only way to get good at something is to do it repeatedly. Right now, I'm clocking in good times, great distances, and remaining on my feet once the run ends. Over the course of my three runs, I'm averaging about the same distance as the Marathon itself. (If I can run it in a week, I'll be in good standing!)


So far, so good. But the weather is starting to change for the worse. I'm wearing long-sleeved running tops and shower-proof jackets. I can feel a bitter chill starting to nip at my arms in the final stretches. Time will tell if this winter will be decent enough for continued training, or if I'll be forced to re-join the gym and hit the treadmill again. That's the last thing I want to do. There's nothing as bland and uninteresting as staring at a blank wall or a TV screen for hours on end. Time will tell.

A good start to the week

Yesterday's run was pretty good, despite the constant drizzle and the sudden chill that crept in during the last fifteen minutes or so. I managed to stay on my feet while running across muddy paths and down grassy slopes (nearly fell on my arse several times!).

That's a really good time to run that kind of distance, too. I'm quite pleased with that. The early half of the run saw me hitting less than ten minutes per mile, a feat I've not managed before. The real challenge will be pacing myself for the duration of the marathon - hopefully around five hours or so. I've been talking with a friend and we've agreed that roughly and hour and ten minutes per 10k (six miles or so) is a really good time, one that can be maintained over a much longer distance than a quicker pace. For the time being, I need to keep up my three-times-a-week runs and see if I can start to push that distance further.

Rain stops play

Apparently there was a storm this weekend. I didn't see it through all the rain.


It's early October and the weather is starting to turn. This makes it a lot more challenging to get out there and train around the park. I've got a lovely thin rain jacket that's ideal for small showers and one long-sleeved running top (with another on the way). These help with staying motivated, but the hardest part of running through poor weather is getting over that mental hurdle. You know the one - the part of your brain that sees rain dribbling down the window and whispers, Naff that, let's stay at home and drink tea.


I've always found the most difficult part of trying to keep fit is maintaining the enthusiasm. You see the rain, or feel the cold, or don't really feel like it, and suddenly there are a thousand other things you could be doing instead. Why run in the pouring rain when you could wash the dishes? Besides, the weather might be better tomorrow. Why not wait and see?


One of the key challenges I've found is in keeping my motivation red-hot. It was much simpler during the summer. I could easily convince myself to get out there and do my laps, didn't matter how hot it was (and Lord it was hot this past summer!). It was always pretty easy to find reasons to go for a run back then - even something as simple as, It's a nice day would get me into my running shorts.


But now that's at an end. I've gotta start to dig deeper and deeper to find my motivation. That's when running a marathon starts to come into its own - Get up, you idiot, you need to do this! People are counting on you. That's pretty good encouragement, right there. Will it help me run through the pouring rain, though? I'm going to find out pretty soon...

'So why a marathon?'

I've been getting that question a lot lately. It's usually accompanied by a quizzical head tilt and the kind of expression that people reserve for addressing the insane. 'So why a marathon?' people ask, looking bemused. Well, I hope it's bemusement, and not the thought of a man in my shape wobbling across London for twenty six miles that's causing people to make that face...


The simplest answer I can give is, 'Why not?' Why not run a marathon? I've never done it before. The idea is crazy and far-fetched and ludicrous. I've never taken part in any kind of running event before. I only started lacing up my trainers five months ago. I'm as amateur as it gets. Why not give it a go? If you're going to do something silly, do it as big and loud as you can. If I'm going to embarrass myself, I want to do it on the biggest, grandest stage possible.


There are other answers that I could give, too. I'm getting married in September 2019 to a wonderful woman (who may or may not be reading this..?) and I want to look my best. Fitness is something I've struggled with for most of my life. I used to play football and take karate lessons when I was a kid. I've always loved swimming, but don't get enough time to take advantage of that. I've drifted in and out of 'fitness phases' for several years. But now I want to take it seriously. I have mats and weights and even a fold-up bench at home (you can still see them, underneath the boxes full of wedding stuff). I took up running simply to take part in the Virgin Active Global Challenge and log some more steps every day. At no time did I do this with the intention of running a full marathon. It just happened, and now I'm giving it a go.


Another answer would be that this is a great thing to do and a worthy cause to support. I've never done anything major for charity before - unless throwing money in a bucket counts? - so this will be both my first marathon and my first charity event. My fiancé has taken part in two sport relief runs and did really well on both occasions. It's about time I stepped up to the plate and did something great for those less fortunate.


I'm pretty far from a serious athlete. I'm not one of those guys who struts around the fruit and veg aisles, bench-pressing watermelons and head-butting coconuts (or whatever it is they do). Everything I learned about health and fitness, I learned the hard way - by getting out there and doing it for myself... and by looking it up on the internet.


The thought of completing this marathon is genuinely nerve-wracking, but I'm confident that I can do at least half of it. Currently my training see me reaching around eight miles, without feeling too much discomfort or pain. That's really good. Hopefully I'll be able to reach that coveted thirteen-mile mark before long and then I'll know that I can do the rest.


And if I manage to do this entire thing, I will have gone from couch potato to marathon runner in less than a year. That's something to be really proud of.

Wednsday's Training

A unseasonably warm October afternoon cut my run a little shorter than usual, much to my annoyance. I enjoy running in the sun, but this time I ran out of water. Wasn't expecting it to be as hot as that! Either I need to run when it's colder, or bring extra water - but nobody wants to be the sad sack running around a park with a bottle of water in each hand.

In other news, a friend of mine has expressed interest in applying and running the marathon with me! This is great news - it would be fantastic to run and train with a friend, especially because he's so much fitter than I am. He ran the Bristol 10k in just under forty minutes a few months prior, so he knows what he's doing. I hope to have more updates soon.


I've also set up a Facebook page to promote my progress and try to get more people involved in sponsoring me. For me, the scariest part of this entire journey is raising the £2,000 needed for Crisis. Running 26 miles seems a lot less daunting, somehow.


Today is Thursday, so I'll be taking the day off from training, but I continue to monitor my food intake, drink plenty of water, and take an energetic walk around the park on my work lunch break. Never stop training. Never stop moving.

Wednesday Update

A day off from work, a decent run in the afternoon sun, and a protein shake to finish. I'm slowly branching out with what I want to do in my challenge and there will be more updates to come. I'm setting up a Facebook page as well, to make it easier for people to follow and get in touch.

Monday Night Training

Last night's training went well, despite the large and uncomfortable hill I have to surmount every single lap in the park. I ran out of water before the end, though - perhaps I either need a second bottle, or less gulping?


My run was fifteen and a half laps, followed by a short walk through the back exit to the road, and finally a quick run home. I've started using the Runkeeper app to log my training, and this is what it looked like:

It felt fantastic to hear the voice in my ear announce that I'd passed the seven mile mark. Usually I call I around five or six miles (roughly 10K), but this time I really went for it. I want to keep setting new standards every week and beating my goals.

Even more exciting than this: I weighed myself in the evening to discover that I'd smashed my goal! I am now currently 193.4 pounds, just under fourteen stone. I haven't been this weight since my school days. Unbelievable!



But that's no reason to stop! Six months left to train and £1,900 left to raise. I've got a long road ahead.

Gotta start somewhere...

I'm just a guy. Never done anything like this before. I like working out and staying fit (especially given that most of my waking life involves sitting on my posterior for long periods of the day). But I've never done anything quite like this.


Here's the thing: I'm not a runner. Not a natural athlete by any stretch of the imagination. As a matter of fact, I only started running on 23rd May 2018. I signed up to take part in the Virgin Pulse Global Challenge and the step tracker didn't do a very good job counting my high intensity interval training (HIIT), so running seemed like a good bet.


I started running using an app someone recommended ('Couch to 5K') and gave it a go. It was hell. The first session asked me to run and walk in single-minute bursts for about thirty minutes. I stopped halfway through and sat on a bench, fighting for air. My knees ached. My legs burned. I couldn't see straight.


But I kept at it. The days slowly ticked past and I ran three times every week. I completed the minute sprints, then the ninety second bursts, and passed the three-minute mini-marathons. Week after week, I kept at it. Nine short weeks later, I was jogging for thirty straight minutes around my local park. Couldn't believe it.


So then the opportunity arose to do something truly extraordinary. I signed up straight away. Running the London Marathon was one of those crazy, far-off, lifetime goals I'd always secretly harboured. Every time I watched the race with my family - admiring the lunatics running in massive costumes, the amateur enthusiasts pouring with sweat, and the professionals sprinting for over two hours with smiles on their faces - I would always say to myself, one day that'll be me.


On April 28th 2019, it will be. I'm going to run the London Marathon. This blog is my record, my training journal, and - hopefully - my way of inspiring more people to join in, either by running or donating to my charity, Crisis UK. Come join me. We're in for a bumpy ride!