Why the London Marathon?

I have never had any intention of ever doing a marathon, especially with memories of the St Albans Half Marathon ten years ago, when I couldn’t walk properly for a week and I didn’t get back into running for at least another 3 months. Many London Marathon veterans have tried to sell the idea of competing in his great life ‘experience’, not one of them made the pitch that enticing enough for me to even watch it let alone sign up for it. So whether they finally wore me down or whether i was inspired from watching this years race or even looking for a distraction from retiring from volleyball, the application for the ballot was filed.

Is my Heart in it?

October is a long time to wait for confirmation of entry through the ballot and the likelihood of gaining entry was probably remote at best. Charities always have a huge presence at the London Marathon, so I drew up a list of potential bond places. I have raised money in memory of my dad, Harry and brother-in-law, Tony for the British Heart Foundation in the past, so they were always going to be one of my favourite options.
On August 20th I received an email from the Hearts Runners congratulating me on my successful entry via the BHF for the 2014 London Marathon. The initial excitement was put in it’s place quite quickly once I had had time to think about what lies ahead. What was I thinking?

First Sponsor.

To celebrate the successful entry, I decided to go on one of my normal midweek runs, a three miler through Chiswell Green and the lanes. It did dawn on me that despite the elation of my entry, I don’t really enjoy running. However, a first anonymous sponsor was found in the unlikely guise of a rolled up fiver lying on the pavement along Cuckmans Drive. Only £1995 to go.