So, fellow runners, here we are. I started this blog not longer after I got my confirmation letter which was 6 months, 22 days, 10 hours and a handful of minutes before the start of the London marathon. Now we have just over one week to go. My, how time has flown and how life has changed. Oh, and how much I'm beginning to panic!!

Those six months ago, I couldn't run for 10 minutes without stopping. The first run I did, I walk for a minute, ran for a minute for a total of a staggering 10 minutes and must have covered all of half a mile. That's endurance racing in it's most extreme form, I can tell you! I remember driving 26 miles and being shocked as to how far it was, even in a car. To run it? Madness I tell you!!

Now look at me. I ran 18 miles last weekend and could still walk at the end of it. My running clothes take up most of my wardrobe now. I'm already on my second pair of expensive running shoes. I've even been to a sports physio. I get excited reading running magazines (not that sort of excited. Well, maybe just a little!). I've lost a stone in weight and I can eat for England. I'm bloody hardcore now!! There's a great post from Jenoir that sums up how you change when running a marathon.

http://www.realbuzz.com/blogs/u/Jenoir/good-for-age-in-2009/posts/take-up-running-take-up-physio/

I know I'm not this blogs most prolific poster, but I do read it regularly and it great to see how much we all progressed from the big girl's blouses we were at the start to the toned athletes we've all become. It'll be an honour to be at the start line with you lot.

In terms of my progress since the last time I posted back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the land, training's gone pretty well. I had a spell where I had terrible pain in my right knee and couldn't run for longer that half an hour. Went to a physio (see proper runner now) who diagnosed ilium tibia band friction syndrome which has got to be one of the coolest sounding injuries! She gave me some exercises and a massage, and I got a knee support band and it's pretty much sorted now. Whist i don't think it'll be worth looking for me in the leading pack of runners for the race, I'm pretty confident now that I'll be able to finish it.

So guys, enjoy the last week of training, I hope your last few runs are great and just confirm that you'll be fabulous on the day. There's another great post I readwhich was posted by Berna

http://www.realbuzz.com/blogs/u/Berna/flm-cherry00/posts/back-once-again-for-the-rendegade-master

that includes the following quote: -

WHEN YOU STAND ON THE START LINE "When you stand on the Start Line, you join the club. When you stand at the Starting Line you earn your membership. Millions dream of being where you are. You are no longer a dreamer. You are a doer. Thousands more started a training programme but never finished. They started with the same enthusiasm (or more than) you. They started with more or less the same physical gifts or disadvantages as you did. They had no more and no less reason to be successful than you. But somewhere along the way, they lost that enthusiasm. Somewhere on the road or on the track or treadmill, they decided that the rewards just weren't worth the effort. They decided that they could live without finding their limits, without challenging their expectations of themselves and without taking a hard look at their image of themselves. You didn't. If you’re standing at the Start Line, you've not only accepted the challenge, but you've also beaten back the demons. You've conquered your imagination and self-imposed limitations. You've gone further, got stronger and become tougher than you ever imagined." 

In the words of Steve Runner, Run long and taper.