It’s not even been a week since it was announced I will be running the London Marathon for the Lincoln City Foundation, but it’s been busy.

Without so much as a single post from me other than the announcement, we’re already at £395, a great start on the quest to £2000. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated already.

Several people also asked me this weekend if there was a link for donations, and there is. It is below, so if you’re one of the people who have asked, you can now support me (and, more importantly, the Foundation). For reference, it says £185 there, but the wider Foundation Enthuse page also has the early bird donations on it.

LINK TO DONATE TO MY LONDON MARATHON EFFORTS

I’ve got a few announcements coming up, but I guess I’ll deal with the first two today. Before I do, here’s a training update: I’m currently running every other day, not long distances, but I did a little 6km at lunch today. On Friday, I woke up with a really bad back. I had to get help putting on my underwear and couldn’t even carry my cup of tea into the office. I’ve let that settle over the weekend, it was just muscular I think, hence getting a run in today.

I struggled with pacing though – I figure around 6:30/km will be good, aiming for under five hours during the actual race. Today, with the wind and some fast ska on the headphones, I was tracking 6:05/km which isn’t what I want. Anyway, early days.

Okay, I wanted to do a ‘lacing up my trainers’ photo, but it’s hard with one hand

Expert Help

I’ve already had so many people message about their experiences, thank you. Karl Richardson sent me a great email which I confess I haven’t had a chance to reply to which was inspirational, and there’s been plenty of others offering their advice. Thank you all and my apologies if I haven’t replied as yet, I do intend to.

One offer of help I have seized upon is that of Paul De Garis (pronounced Dee Gah-Ray, just so you know), my podcast co-host from the Former Player’s Association. Paul is a personal trainer by trade, with more qualifications than I can list, and he’s offered to help me with my training, putting together a bespoke plan for me. I was going to use Chris Evans’ book (yep, the ginger one that married Billie Piper), but having someone looking at my progress, giving feedback and developing the plan for me is massive.

Thanks Paul!

LINK TO DONATE TO MY LONDON MARATHON EFFORTS

Literally today. Sweating after 6km, 36.195 short of what I’ll do in April

The Book

£2000 is a big total, so to help get there, I’m planning on dropping a book about running. I appreciate it is fairly niche, but my aim is to get it on pre-order after Christmas, and all profits will go to the final fundraising total.

The book is split into two parts. The first is my running journey, aimed at people looking to start running. I’ll talk about the things that helped me, the advice I was given and the things you never really hear about. I got loads of great advice during my running journey, but some things I had to find out for myself, and some things don’t get mentioned (guys doing their first long run, then trying to go to the toilet will know exactly what I mean). I want to make people’s journey from not running to running as informed as possible, and we’ll have a few laughs along the way. I’ll cover essential equipment, offering the benefit of my experience with new runners in mind.

The second part will be my marathon diary, potentially aimed at people thinking of upping their distances and maybe even doing a marathon. It will tell the story of my journey from applying to (hopefully) finishing without having to be carried over the line. I’ll include my training runs, the challenges I face, and the methods I use to get myself to a place where running 26.2 miles is possible.

The book is well underway, but I won’t be putting it on pre-sale until after Christmas, but it’s worth looking out for.

LINK TO DONATE TO MY LONDON MARATHON EFFORTS

What’s Next

For now, my focus is just on training. I’ve cut out the cigars already and got through a night where I had a few beers without the craving, so that’s good. I’ll be working with Paul to develop my programme over the coming days and just focusing on doing a few little bits.

Updates may be sporadic, as there’s not much to discuss right now, but I just want to keep updating you, especially those of you who got in early and backed me. Getting off to such a flying start regarding fundraising is so important, so thank you.

 

 

 

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