What a day!

Wow - what a day indeed.

I am delighted to announce that today I finished my first Marathon!!!
I got round in 3h 35 mins which is more or less what I was aiming for which I was really pleased with.
I won't lie, it was really hard and from about 20 miles it got really tough but the sense of the occasion, atmosphere and support from the enormous crowds got me over the line. I would like to thank Roger, Hinesh and any other elephant fans that came out to cheer all the runners (and me) on!

I am really pleased with how the whole process has gone and am really appreciative of all of the help and support I have received, especially from all of you who have sponsored me. We have raised a whopping £1117 for the Elephant Nature Foundation so far which I am as pleased with as the actual race!

Not sure if I will ever do another one, ask me in a couple of days....

ONE!!!

...well technically, less than that!
This time tomorrow I will probably be about half way through and hopefully not struggling too much!

I am just about to leave for London where I have to go and pick up my race number; 50614 for anyone that wants to look out for me!!

Tomorrow morning I will be up around 6:30 to get some breakfast down and get myself off to the start in Greenwich Park, after that all I have to do is run!

Thank you to everyone for the emotional, financial and technical support throughout this experience, especially everyone that has contributed to the brilliant £1100 we have managed to raise for the Elephant Nature Foundation.

Next time I write a blog update I will have at least attempted to get round the 26.2 miles - wish me luck!

TWO!!

Just to make me feel a little better about what I am going to put myself through
on Sunday I had a little look on YouTube to see if there is anything that could motivate me - this is what I found!

Click 'Here' or go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmwErn8hMD8 to see what I will look like around lunchtime on Sunday :(

Not what I needed to see!

THREE!

My race kit is now washed and ready for race day - watch out for a white Elephant Nature Foundation t-shirt and black shorts!
Also planned my route down to London on Saturday and importantly my trip to the start line!
For the past few days I have been eating even more than normal to make sure my energy stores are maxed out - one of the best things about training for a Marathon!
One more day at work then the final chapter of my first Marathon weekend will begin!

I have picked up loads of good advice from a number of people that have done it before - here are the best bits:

1) Don't run too fast
2) Drink before you get thirsty
3) Tape painkillers to your arm to take when it starts to hurt!
4) Put Vaseline on everything
5) Smile as you cross the line (for the camera!)

Four

Great news! - today the £1000 sponsorship target has been smashed! - thank you to everyone that has helped, I really hope that the money we have raised will make some small difference to help the charity keep the elephants of Thailand happy!

Five

Today I had my first ever Sports Massage in an attempt to get my legs in good working order and hopefully help my sore Achilles tendons. After having a good poke around the therapist informed me that there wasn't anything seriously wrong with my tendons which was a great relief and means that when they start getting sore on race day I should be able to run through it without anything snapping :(
After the safety briefing, in which I was told to let him know if the pain got above 8/10, he set about his work and to his credit the pain never got above 7/10 (significant discomfort). There were apparently lots of knots in my calf muscles and hamstrings which he was able to straighten out; in theory the process will help me get round the course on race day, although I left the studio feeling much sorer than when I went in!
Today was also an exciting day on the fundraising front - we are now up to 99% of my sponsorship target, a significant milestone that means we require the slightest of pushes to get us over the finish line - thank you all for helping!

Six

Monday
One more week at work then a train ride down to London - that's all there is left to do!
I have planned out my last minute runs to keep everything ticking over, which involves resting today, running 4 miles on Tuesday, resting on Wednesday, Jogging 4 miles on Thursday and 2 on Friday. In addition I have booked myself in for a Sports Massage tomorrow to help sort out any last minute problems - apparently they hurt?
As for the sponsorship side of things we are just £33 away from our target of £1000 so hopefully by Sunday morning that will have been achieved!
Many of the elephants that this money will help have suffered some horrific injuries, none worse than Medo in the picture to the left. If you are interested in learning more about the individual elephants that the Elephant Nature Foundation protects please click 'Here'.

Seven

Sunday Had my last Sunday run today, sandwiched between two hardcore DIY/ garden sessions. The weather was beautiful and although I was only running 6 miles the heat definitely made a difference - apologies to anyone that is going to London to watch the race but I really hope it isn't too hot - good weather for spectators is bad weather for runners. My run took me along the river in Cambridge and there were masses of people out enjoying the weather, at one point I ran past a mother and her baby playing the 'whats that?' game. As I ran past I saw the mum point at me and say 'whats that?', I slowed down to listen. I think both the mother and I were expecting baby to say something like 'man' or 'running' - his actual reply...'Elephant'! I hope this was a reference to the Elephant Nature Foundation logo on the back of my shirt and not what I look like from behind. Either way it made me smile - the PR campaign is working! This time next week . . .

Eight

Saturday
Was at a work event and spent the whole day talking with a colleague who is also running next Sunday. We thrashed out all of the key issues (drinks strategies, toilet strategies, Vaseline distribution etc) and I am fairly sure that I have all of the bases covered.
The nerves have begun to set in and my latest thinking is that I can't wait for it to be over so I can relax!

Nine

The last weekend before Race day has arrived - my calf injury is much better so I am going to try and get out for a couple of short runs to get me back into my stride in the next couple of days.
I am just 7% short of my final funding target so we are nearly there with that too- hopefully there will be a rush of support in the last week to get us over the magic £1000 mark!
Thanks also, to everyone that that has offered to come and support me on the day, I am sure it will make a big difference to have some familiar faces (like this one?)and fellow elephant fans in the crowd!

The final 10!

Ten days to go -aggghhhh! I haven't run for the past few days due to a slightly sore calf muscle - really annoying because I don't want to risk making it worse by running on it but at the same time I would like to get a few more runs in just to keep the fitness ticking over! I am sure it will be fine in time for the big day though so don't worry!
Now that the big day is so close I feel that it's time for me to start reflecting on exactly why I'm doing this! There are 3 reasons.

1) The personal challenge
I have wanted to do the London Marathon for a number of years, I have applied a few times but not been given a place so I was delighted when I 'won' the Elephant Nature Foundation Facebook ballot. My intention is to finish the race in a time that I am happy with and then never do it again! I am a bit worried that if I have a bad day and run slowly I will have to do another one to make up for it :(
2)To say "Thank you"!
So far 58 people have been kind enough to sponsor me which means that I have roughly 1 supporter for every half mile that I will have to run! I am very grateful and hope that I do a good job for you all.
3) To help a cause I really care about!
By far and away the biggest reason to do this is to raise as much money as possible for the Elephant Nature Foundation. The concept of the charity is to offer injured and abused elephants a safe haven under the care of the staff at the Elephant Nature Park as well as striving to educate local people in Thailand in the humane treatment of these amazing creatures.
A really worthy cause that I am delighted to be able to help in this small way!

12 Days To go!

The fact that I now really have to do this is beginning to kick in, I am a bit nervous about the day, as one might expect, but more than that I am starting to really worry about getting ill or injured because there just isn't any time to sort things out if the worst was to happen!
I played badminton yesterday and have slightly pulled my right calf muscle - it isn't bad at all but I didn't go for my planned run tonight just in case I made it worse!
Apart from being scared, everything else is taken care of - I have a hotel booked, have planned my route to the start, know what I'm wearing on the day and, thanks to my friend, have a brand new pot of Vaseline to stop things rubbing!

If you have any last minute advice - now is the time to let me know!

Two Weeks to Go!!!

Today marked two important milestones, firstly there are now only 2 weeks to go until race day (agghhhhh!) and secondly, it was my birthday!

As there is only a fortnight to go, it is now time to start taking it easy so my body can recover from the abuse of the last 10 weeks. There are apparently no further benefits to be gained from putting in any more long runs; in fact doing so would probably have a negative effect on my performance on the day. I will be running a few miles every couple of days to keep things ticking over but the most important thing will be rest and recuperation - sounds good to me!
I have picked up a couple of sore achilles tendons over the past few weeks due to all the running on hard surfaces so taking it easy is just what I need - hopefully I will be 100% fit on the morning of the big day despite now being 1 year older than I was yesterday :( !

More importantly I am really hoping to reach 100% of my fundraising target in the next two weeks - and as we are up to 92% it could well happen - please click 'here' if you would like to help.

Need for Speed

As well as doing lots of running (about 350 miles so far) I have also been playing my usual sports including football and squash. Although they don't specificaly help one prepare for running a marathon they definitely help with general fitness and in squash's case, speed! The idea being that if I play lots of squash, I will be able to unleash a devestating sprint finish as I come down the Mall to the finish line on the big day!
I ran just over 18 miles on Saturday and had a practice sprint finish at the end. It is quite possible that the casual observer wouldn't have noticed the change of pace but I definitely did, so am now confident that the .2 miles at the end will be no problem - the 26 miles beforehand however is another question!

I would also like to thank everyone at England Squash & Racketball for their generous sponsorship - www.englandsquashandracketball.com

We are very nearly up to £800 which is really pleasing thank you all for supporting the Elephant Nature Foundation!