The 2012 Journey by Chect

Top Tip

There's a lot of information about running out there; web sites, books, on-line journals, blogs; webcasts and podcasts (not sure i know the difference as far as they are concerned but anyway I digress) my advice when it comes to starting off at least is to speak to the experts.  And there's no better opportunity when it comes to the Virgin London Marathon than the special "Meet the Experts day" on the weekend of the 4/5th Feb.  I've been countless times now and each time I learn something new.  Whether it's a gem of wisdom from Sam Murphy (writes for Runner's World) or some extra special tips (and sometimes freebies) from the Lucozade Sports team or perhaps just the comical entertainment laid on by London Marathon's very own Dave Bedford - it's worth putting in the diary now.  This is open to Golden Bond (charity place) holders only.

PS if you can't make it along - I would thoroughly recommend finding your nearest running club and signing up.  You may be pleasantly surprised.  There are folks of all abilities in running clubs up and down the country.  A great place for advice and training partners too.

Did you know...? 

Over 150,000 people typically apply to run the marathon, around 50,000 normally get accepted and around 36,000 actually start (and only a few do not finish) - we will get the actual stats for 2011 on MTE day so this will be updated shortly.

Quote of the week

A dream is just a dream, a goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline!

Diary of a running geek

This is going to be a short entry this week.  Self diagnosed with a "very bad cold" as you may recall, I thought I would be on my feet by now - alas no. I will spare you the details suffice to say I have been sensible (not generally a trait of mine!) and decided to take another week off.  I feel all the better for it and now I will come back stronger.  I desparately miss my running (the freedom and the peace it brings me - this may be alien to some of you but lets see in the week's to come how this compares to your experiences). My only compensation this week was to cheer my friend on from the sidelines in a race we were due to do together.  Now that WAS a real challenge for me not to just say to heck with it and run in any case (even the event organisers were trying to persuade me - even though they could hear my barking cough a mile away!!) I was very envious of the conditions and the course but a great time was had by all.