The Start of a Journey....

Last April, I entered the London Marathon ballot for the 4th time. I had never been successful, and this year wasn't an exception.

However, my friends who registered with me, got their place in the ballot, which seems to happen every time... They get in, and I don't. One of my friends twisted my arm by saying she wouldn't run, would defer her place unless I would run it as well.
So I got in touch with the Children's Trust, and got a charity place through them. I will have to raise a minimum of £2000 towards the charity, so once I will have had the official acceptance letter, I will open an online charity page, and hope that while you will be reading my updates, you will feel enticed enough to sponsor me on my journey.

I have to admit that I have always wanted to run the London marathon. Each year, I have been watching it on TV, except for the last 2 years where I have been volunteering with a fabulous team at the 23mile mark on the Lucozade drinks station.
At 23 miles you see quite a lot of people suffering by then. And I always vowed that if I were to run a marathon, I would train well, so as to run the whole way non stop, and not feel broken part way.  

Here is a bit of background to endurance events I've done:
1. I have walked the Moonwalk twice with my friend Tish. The Moonwalk for those who haven't heard of it, is a marathon length walk (you can also do half) throughout the night, normally done in your bra, in aid of breast cancer. Both times we finished in under 8 hours.

2. After being unsuccessful at the ballot a couple of years ago, I registered to run half a marathon in Edinburgh in 2013. After not training properly, all I wanted was to finish within the time limit of 3h, and not get kicked off the road by the sweepers van. Mission accomplished.

3. Last May I walked the largest part of London 2 Brighton, and only pulled out due to the horrific muddy conditions as I really didn't want to break anything.

So that's my experience at endurance events. I've done a few shorter runs, 5ks and 10ks, and a few triathlons (none at olympic distance yet).

My goal for VLM2015:
My goal for next April is to run the whole way non-stop and finish in under 5h30

I know that to achieve that goal, I have to train consistently, which is something I always struggled with, as I am not a good runner at all.
When it comes to training, it's not just about running, but also strength training and flexibility training so as to prevent injuries along the way.

I also know I will have to work at my nutrition.

As such I have signed up to work with my friend Rachael Hunt, who is an endurance coach.
After a long chat with her, I will know next Wednesday what my first months training programme will look like, with first training session on Thursday. HELP....

My plan is to update this blog regularly.
It will be a great tool for accountability, but also to share my progress, my struggles, the changes I have to make to my lifestyle, etc.

Hope you will enjoy the reading along the way.