So I have decided to run a marathon….well, not immediately.
Probably best to start at the beginning. Some friends came down to visit Gemma and I from Oxford last weekend, and we got around to talking about Marathons and 10k runs (it was the weekend of the Brighton Marathon). One thing led to another and I stated that I felt that I could do a 10k now without much training (bold I know), before being ridiculed in the sort of way that made me realise that I had missed this mate taking the p**s out of me.
The conversation moved on and I didn’t really think much more about it until the next day when Gem and I decided as it was a nice day to walk down and give another friend of mine some support as he slogged round the Brighton Marathon route, and this led me to think that this is something I wanted to do.
So a couple of days later I find myself jogging round Hove Park before work. I had gotten up at 7am (much to Gemma’s surprise), spent 10 minutes trying to find headphones and my iPod case, setting up Map My Run, and then choosing music (very important obviously!) and I am off.
Heading down I feel that heady mix of excitement and trepidation, what if I can only manage 1km, and what if I am blowing out of my a#*e 2 minutes in. I suppose I had better describe myself, I am a big guy, 1.95m tall weighing 125 kg (6’5″ and 21 stone in old money) so running is not really my thing, although I am fairly active playing Football and Cricket a couple of times a week.
Half an hour later I am back at the flat having run 5.15km in split times of about 5.2 min/km (with one about 7 min after walking the last 500m) so a decent start.
I have decided to try and find a half marathon in October time, and from that start to think about doing a Marathon the same time in 2016. But I thought that writing this down (and I am doing this before having a shower!) will help me to keep running and allow me to see how far I have come in my training.
I am an Exercise Physiologist, so know about somethings to do with training etc, so I am hopeful that this blog will maybe help the (very) small amount of people who may end up reading it.
Fergus