Marathon and blogging

[sfb350]

To anyone on the FB group, I apologize for repeating myself. After receiving my rejection magazine for the VLM, I signed up for Brighton Marathon on 6th April 2014. So far, my furthest distance has been the HM I did a few weeks ago but I enjoyed every minute of that so I'm hoping that with a bit of commitment to my training I'll be able to run the full marathon distance, however slowly. I've entered with a charity place and have committed to raising £500 for the MS Society, inspired by a running friend who has recently been diagnosed with MS and is bravely tackling her new challenge. I wanted to do something to show a bit of support and I also know that however tough marathon training gets, I'm lucky to be able to choose to take on this challenge. My friend would love his opportunity and I'm going to do the very best I can.

I've decided to keep a blog of my marathon journey and I've included a link to my Just Giving page, should anyone wish to donate. I'm not sure if it will be of interest to anyone other than me but feel free to have a look and comment or ignore as you please. I've recently been to a few classes for running strength training with a view to avoiding injury. Unfortunately, as I was the only person to turn up to the classes it wasn't worth the instructor's while to carry on.......he did try to run through all the exercises he was going to cover and gave me his instruction sheets. I'm planning to include these in the blog in case anyone else finds them useful.

I'm also experimenting with home-made energy bars so will share the successful recipes on the blog. I've not got on with the energy gels etc that I've tried so far and thought it might suit me better to take homemade nibbles with me on longer runs - I've got enough time to experiment with "fueling" on runs between now and then.

I'm also thinking of having a bit of a sweep-stake nearer the time - with a prize for the person who guesses nearest to the time I complete the marathon in. I'm not yet sure how that will work - if anyone has done something similar, I'd be grateful for any tips or advice.

If anyone has any tips or ideas for fund raising, I'd be really grateful - to be honest, I don't like asking for money and I am probably more anxious about that side of things than I am about the marathon training itself. I'm sure that will change nearer the day though !

In the meantime, I'm impatiently waiting for my race-pack from the MS Society to turn up

plodathon.blogspot.co.uk/

[rockchick69 Graduate]

Ohhh, this is so exciting! I think it's fantastic running for a charity, you can count on my donation. Do we do it now or nearer the time? I also read your blog the other day and loved it, so can't wait for your updates. I am going to take on the HM and start training over winter so any tips you have on running strength and food are very welcome. It's a minefield of information on the web so getting it from one source will be handy. It's great to know that people are also training for challenges and it stops you feeling like the only one out there. I love this site for this and the facebook page, we are all in it together....maybe a title for a song at some point...lol! Enjoy your training and looking forward to you blogs

[sfb350 Graduate in reply to rockchick69]

Thank you for your support - you can donate whenever you want. I've been pretty blown away by the support so far - I was far more anxious about asking people for money than I was about the training ! I had a look at my Just Giving page the other day and was shocked by how much I have spent on sponsorship - I don't begrudge any of it but if it was in my pocket right now it would solve a few problems ! I'm grateful for every bit of support I get and wouldn't want anyone to feel under pressure to donate more than they can comfortably afford

Please don't look on any tips I give as gospel - they will be what works for me and may not work for other people. As an example, I know many people like jelly babies for a boost during a long run but when I tried them (and I always loved jelly babies) they made me want to be sick. From my limited experience, I think one of the most valuable things you can do in training is to work out what suits you best.