My Marathon Blog Part 1: But we had a deal!!

I have an arrangement with the London Marathon. It’s a fine one, and it works like this. Every year since running it in 2014, I sit down and watch the Marathon. I get emotional, tear up a bit entirely forgetting the 4 hours and 20 minutes of pain I went through and apply for the lottery. By the time October has come around I have calmed down, realised I don’t really want to run it after all and wait for my rejection email. When it inevitably arrives I breathe a huge sigh of relief, take delivery of a nice running technical top, and donate my entry fee to their charities. It’s a win win for everybody.

Happy celebrating after the 2014 Marathon!

But this year they broke the deal. I got in. They didn’t stick to their side of the bargain, and now I’ve got to run it! I shall be writing to my MP tomorrow.

Seriously, the arrival of a London Marathon place on your birthday is a pretty nice present for a runner, and I’m not going to lie, I am just a little bit excited. The difference this time is, although I am, ahem, a few years older now, I have a lot more running experience under my belt, and I have run it before, so I know what lies ahead. Having a nasty cold (is there a nice one?) over the weekend I have turned my mind to planning my training for the months ahead and getting my various running niggles sorted out before I get on the training wheel in earnest, but that is a subject for another blog in the future.

Back in 2014 I put out a regular blog charting my progress towards the big day, and I thought it would be nice to do the same again, perhaps comparing notes from the last time and seeing how things have changed for me as a runner since my last attempt 5 years ago now.

Watch out for my next blog when I will be talking about the all-important matter of fund raising and my plans there. For a sneak preview, google ‘Forgotten Feet’

Thanks for reading, run safe, and I’ll see you in the next blog post.