How to Run a Marathon...

Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I may not be a runner.

So, since I have started working on achieving my 30before30 goals, on my 27.5th birthday, I have been running 7km every single Wednesday, without fail. Even if I have been travelling, or unwell, or tired, or grumpy. The first one was awful. I thought I was going to die. But since then they have gradually got better, and a little quicker - not much, but a little. I have now started doing a 5km on Mondays too and I always do cardio on Fridays, either my kick-boxing class, or if I'm travelling, another 5km.

But progress is slow... and maybe I should tell you my big secret. I don't really like running.

I remember watching Eddie Izzard, the British comedian, on the Jonathan Ross Show a few years ago, when he was doing Ultra-marathons and back-to-back marathons for Sports Relief. Jonathan Ross said to hims something like,
"So, you really must like running then?"
And his response was,
"Not at all, I actually hate it, I really like the stopping"

I do get this though, I feel the same. The stopping is great - the sense of achievement, all those endorphins, the "champion" feeling, the after-exercise glow that stays with you for the rest of the day... This is what makes it so hard to just keep running- the temptation to stop.

When I was in Mozambique, I was working with a new member of staff who had just joined our team and we were having a good bonding session over breakfast. I told her that I was planning to run a marathon and she became all excited and exclaimed that she had run three! Surprised does not even cover it, as this lady was no lean whippet. Nor had I seen her at the gym at all during our stay at the hotel. I think that my face must have betrayed my disbelief because she went on to tell me all about how she had just undergone chemotherapy and had gained 30kg. It all got a bit awkward, and I really began to focus on my bread and bananas.

This aside, she gave me loads of great tips. She told me all about the techniques she used to avoid injury, including the Fartlek technique, which is where you do a bit of gentle jogging with some mad sprints in between. Sounded like a lot of fun. I'm definitely gonna try it. She also told me that the original length of a marathon was defined by a Greek legend of a messenger called Pheidippides who ran that distance, keeled over, and died. Great. I looked it up, and it seems he had been running the day before (Note to self - no running on day before Marathon).

So the Marathon that I want is in September, and it will take about 6 months of heavy training (6 days per week). Before starting that I should get up to at least 4 runs per week and at least 20km per week... oh man! No one ever said that it would be easy.

The other thing is where to run?  I need to get out on the road, but the nights are drawing in and the gym is so warm and they have nice soft towels...