Blog of a Marathon Virgin! by Nigeyboy

Hi all

Well, this will be my last post now until after the Big Day!! Done as much of the training that I could, though probably not as much as I should, but thats life isn't it?!?! I am really looking forward to the whole experiance of Marathon Day - the crowds, the noise . . . .. the pain?! Well, maybe not the pain, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger so they say.

Good luck to everyone whos running this year - to those that had to defer for whatever reason, bad luck but heres to next year.

Well, thats it for the long runs now! Whilst many people spent Monday eating chocolate, and watching duff films on TV, me - and probably most of you too - where on the road, putting in our last LSR's before M day. Tappering starts for me now, but still many miles planned for training - just nothing longer than I did yesterday!!

Still have this pain in my right foot though. I was aware of it when i left the house, but after a couple of miles it eased off - only to come back again at mile 12. It slowed me up quite a bit, and after a lot of icing last night, its still quite painful to walk on today. Am planning a visit to a local sports physio I have seen (whil our on my LSR's actually!!), so will try and get in there over the next week or so for a check-up.

Hope you are all getting on well, and looking forward to the biggy!! Not long to go now, and asked mysefl today "what will I do when its all over?" . . . . 

My daughters school is very kindly running three fundraising events for me - a marathon quiz, a dress down day, and a mini-marathon challenge. The head teacher invited me in to speak to the whole school about what I was doing, and so yesterday saw me stood in front of 350+ kids to talk about my marathon training, and the competitions! Showed them the laptop I have been donated for a 1st prize and said "who wants to win this then?" . . . .  they went mental!! Really enjoyed it - was only up for about 5 mins or so, but they are all dead keen to enter now!!

I am hoping that these 3 events will top off my fund raising target quite nicely, and I can spend the last 2 weeks before 'M' day concentrating on the marathon, rather than making sure I hit my fund raising total.

Have a run planned for tonight - the foot seems a lot better following my 15 miler on Sunday. Will aim for about an hour on the road tonight, a shorter on Friday, then rest Saturday (gotta build a garden shed then anyway!!), and then my last LSR on Sunday - will go as long as I can, and expect/hope to hit the 18-20 mile mark.

Hope your all getting on OK and getting as excited/nervous as I am!!

Morning all,

Had a 16-18 miler planned for yesterday, to build on my half marathon from the week before. Same route, but with a loop around the first part of the course to make up the extra miles. didn't quite manage the full distance, as started to get a pain in my right foot arch, so decided to err on the side of caution and swing home for a 14.5 mile total. Still happy as felt I had plenty more in the 'tank'. This close to M Day, I don't want to put myself out by injuring myself!! On the day if anything crops up I will just have to run through it - legs can drop off as long as its after I cross the finish line!!

Will miss the 20 min I have planned tonight, and rest the foot, and see how it is on Tuesday. A few longer runs during mid week before my last big push on Easter Sunday. Then the tappering starts, and thats it!! Before we know it, it will be the 25th April and we will be lining up with tens of thousands of other like-minded nutters!! There must be something wrong with me - I am really looking forward to what I know will be the hardest 5hrs of my life!!

Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.


Sir Winston Churchill