New Blog

So, I'm running the 2011 London Marathon.  This blog will hopefully detail my training and the progress I am making on the run up to the big day (no pun intended!).  I've never written a blog before, so this is a bit of an experiment, but hopefully it will encourage me to keep up my training if I'm sharing it with the world!  I'll try and update this about once a week.

The decision to run the Marathon was not taken lightly.  I was inspired to run the marathon for Iain Rennie (the palliative care charity which helped my family and I care for my Mum in her home in the last weeks of her life), after a friend ran the great south run for Macmillan a few weeks after her Dad died.  I thought I could do something like that for Iain Rennie, and the marathon seemed like the obvious challenge, as it is something I had tentatively thought about over the years but never done anything about.

I have been a runner for a few years, after I took it up to lose weight.  In 2007 I ran a half marathon, but never followed it up with another or any other challenge.  Having a baby kind of put a stop to that for a bit!  Running the marathon is a step up from anything I've done previously, it is a real challenge for me.

My training programme is based around four sessions a week: three running sessions, including one "effort" session and one long run, plus a circuit training session.  So far I've managed to stick to most of these, although last week was spent "cross training" in the snow!

So far this week circuit training went as normal, while today's effort session was tough!  Four hills, followed by 2 and a quarter miles at tempo, then another 3 hills!  I'm pleased to be taking part in the efforts, which are arranged by a group of very fit runners, but I often feel like curling up under my desk and sleeping for the rest of the afternoon afterwards!  Oh well, it must be good for me, right?