So what are you up to? Ahhh, if I hear those words again, I might actually scream! People are refering to my participation in the London Marathon of course! The thing is, I'm not actually up to a set distance, I'm just running and hoping that I'll actually complete the thing! And I will complete it, I'm just not opposed to walking some of it...unlike my husband, who has already done his 20 mile run and has set himself a target of 3hrs 30 mins! Yes he is mental, but then he is one of those annoying superfit people that sets hard sporting challenges, but I guess I knew what I signed up for when I married him.
It all started on my 30th birthday in December 2006. My now husband proposed and I said yes and then uttered those stupid words that are now currently haunting me 'Oh my god, I have to do something spectacular before we get married, I know, I'm going to run the London Marathon'! Well that was stupid! At the time, my husband wasn't a runner, he was a mountain biker who didn't care much for running. Me saying those silly words returned a response 'oh, well if you are going to do the marathon, then I will do the marathon'. So in 2007 we applied for a place in 2008, one month before our wedding.
Not realising how popular the London marathon actually is, we didn't get a ballot place for 2008,
I guess we shouldn't have been so surprised, but I have to admit, I wasn't overly disappointed! By then he was really into his running and talking about doing another marathon instead, thankfully I got him to agree that it should be the London marathon that was our first marathon....phew. So he signed us up to the Great South Run in October 2007 and the Bracknell half marathon in April 2008. Well I didn't do too badly, considering that I had never been a sporty person. I was one of those kids who bunked off games at school! I did the GSR in 2hrs 2mins and the Bracknell half in 2hrs 16mins! And I got a medal!
I guess we shouldn't have been so surprised, but I have to admit, I wasn't overly disappointed! By then he was really into his running and talking about doing another marathon instead, thankfully I got him to agree that it should be the London marathon that was our first marathon....phew. So he signed us up to the Great South Run in October 2007 and the Bracknell half marathon in April 2008. Well I didn't do too badly, considering that I had never been a sporty person. I was one of those kids who bunked off games at school! I did the GSR in 2hrs 2mins and the Bracknell half in 2hrs 16mins! And I got a medal!So since our first application to the marathon, we have applied every year since...even though we are now married! And every October, 2 magazines come through the post with a 'sorry you have been unsuccessful'. 'Ah shame', I say to my husband. So imagine my surprise last October, when he actually gets a 'Congratulations you have been successful' magazine through the post! I still got the rejection magazine but we had always said that we would do this together so off I went to look for a charity place (whilst cursing under my breath!). Imagine my even greater surprise when I actually got a charity place! This was now real....I was running the London Marathon.
Now don't get me wrong, this will be a massive achievement and I'm sure that I will have rose tinted retrospective 2 mins after crossing the finish line and think 'oh that wasn't that bad'... and I am running for an amazing charity, Breakthrough Breast Cancer who I am delighted to have a place with. But its tough, its really tough. I just don't have enough time in the day. I work full time, I run Florio Designs and I teach at the London Jewellery school so trying to find time to train is really hard. So I have been running into work. Its 'only' 5 miles, doesn't take much longer than my usual train journey and its free time. But I'm struggling to find the time to put in the distance. So if you meet me, I am doing the training....I am, I promise, but forgive me if I scream when you ask me what distance I'm up to!!!
