Phils NY Marathon Blog by phil78

Right, well welcome to my blog. Im guessing it'll probably be just me writing this and mum reading it but if it serves its purpose to keep me training and on schedule then I'll be more than happy!

Firstly if anyone has stumbled across this blog and would like to give to the very deserving charity of the British Heart Foundation then please visit my dontations page at www.justgiving.com/philmorris78

So a bit about me I guess.. Im Phil, I live in Tokyo but am originally from the UK, am 29 and this'll be my first marathon. I guess everyone has their own reasons for wanting to run 26.2 miles.. my initial desire to run this marathon was born out of lying in a hospital bed in London last year after having had surgery to remove a disc and put 2 metal plates in my neck. It sounds dramatic and the months preceding the surgery itself were unbearable agony but as soon as the op was done I felt as good as new. In retrospect it was a bit of a blessing in diguise as I came to realise that my lifestyle really wasnt  all that healthy but I had been given a fantastic opportunity to turn it around. I made the committment to myself that I would lose all the excess weight I was carrying and run a marathon in 2008.

I then had to start the long journey of losing the flab as I really wasnt in any condition to train nevermind attempt a marathon. I was nearly 90kgs (Im only 5'7" so a BMI of about 31), a heavy smoker, worked in an office job and took very little exercise. At the beginning of December I made a bet with my Ozzie mate and broker Trent Tighe that whichever of us hadnt lost 10kgs by the end of March would have to donate $500 US to the charity of the others choice. Being fairly competitive people we both managed it.

MIne was done through a combination of healthier eating, walking to work, no midweek drinking and absolutely no soft drinks or junk food and the godsend of Tokyo which was going snowboarding at the weekends instead of drinking and eating with friends as I would normally do. Small things in themselves but they added up and soon the weight was falling off. It was great to attend the Hong Kong 7s in March where all my old friends (I used to live in HK) were saying that I was looking much healthier.

So now here I am at the start of my 26 week training programme Ive set myself in reasonable shape. Ive been cycling and swimming a fair bit in the past 4 months and will incorporate these into my preparation but the main thing will be just churning out the monotonous miles on the road but will try and make it as interesting reading as I can. Hope you enjoy reading my blog!