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Running the marathon
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
Hello
So there's a few of us on the boards running the London Marathon this year, and really I just wanted to make a thread to start a conversation about what we've been doing, share some tips, answer / ask any questions and just get a bit of banter going.
My own running was going well up until around the end of October when work started getting horrifically busy for me and I felt lethargic 100% of the time, and by the time I got home it was dark anyway. I did sign up at the gym to do treadmill in the evening but have only been a few times. Really need to kick it up a gear now though. Really I am not looking at this stage to complete the marathon in a fast time, but purely to get over the finish line.
If anyone has fundraising ideas as well, that would be great. I've asked all of my friends and family for donations but most people say they will, I email them the page, and then don't
.
So there's a few of us on the boards running the London Marathon this year, and really I just wanted to make a thread to start a conversation about what we've been doing, share some tips, answer / ask any questions and just get a bit of banter going.
My own running was going well up until around the end of October when work started getting horrifically busy for me and I felt lethargic 100% of the time, and by the time I got home it was dark anyway. I did sign up at the gym to do treadmill in the evening but have only been a few times. Really need to kick it up a gear now though. Really I am not looking at this stage to complete the marathon in a fast time, but purely to get over the finish line.
If anyone has fundraising ideas as well, that would be great. I've asked all of my friends and family for donations but most people say they will, I email them the page, and then don't
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Pretty much sums my situation up too. I was doing ok, until I ran into increased workload, a housing glitch and then a month of illness where I ran once for 10 minutes before having to go back to bed! I now have two of the three sorted so I am trying so hard with my running but I am a hell of a long way off
All I want is to complete the marathon faster than I could walk it. I think that is reasonable!
As far as sponsorship, I'm not doing too badly but only becasue my work is great at charity stuff. Could you hold a cake sale at work Shyboy? Ask pople to bake a few cakes and then you don't even have to bake them all yourself!
This is exactly what I've been trying to tell her. We're walking together and stuff, but it still hurts her if we've been out for an hour.
Youthnet headquarters im sure would not want you to do this either. Can you do another form of fundraising, or offer to help man water stops etc
Things have not been going too well for me either. In July I was well ahead of the game, I did a 10k and felt I could have run quite a bit further. But then my life fell apart and I've not done a proper run in months, although I have been doing some gym work and some cycling. I managed to cycle a marathon just before Christmas, which is an achievement of sorts
Don't even know how I'll get close to the fundraising target. I'm honestly seriously considering withdrawing because I don't see how I will have the time to get the money as well as train as well as get back to work. It all is a bit shit tbh.
*hug* you really have been through it and we would 100% understand if you did decide that you weren't ready.
On the other hand, if you did, on thinking on it a bit more, decide that making time for running was going to be really beneficial for you, I wondered if you might want to make contact with Carrie who you met at the launch? She's been struggling too, but has decided to get back on the case... http://chasethepavement.wordpress.com/2012/12/18/let-the-vlm-training-commence/
Either way, doing what's right for you is most important.
But the fundraising? That's a whole different ball game.
Thought I would join in this thread as I am running the marathon with you guys :thumb:
I know how you're all feeling at the moment, if you're anything like me you decided to block any thoughts about the marathon out of your mind until New Year was over and then bam it's here and it feels really close and you're utterly regretting it. But try not to panic too much, there are plenty of programmes that are 16 weeks long. I am going to follow the Bupa Intermediate programme, they do lots of 16 week programmes depending on ability and I think they are more realistic than some of the other ones I have seen that barely give you one day off: http://www.bupa.co.uk/running/training/training-programmes/ Has anyone else seen any good ones?
I know the fundraising seems daunting too, especially right now when everyone is broke. I am going to send my fundraising page out right near pay day at the end of the month where I know people have a little more spare cash. Another tip is to ask your closest or most generous friends/family first so when others visit the page there are larger donations already there. Also, as Purpled Haze says asking work is always a good idea, some companies can help. Remember there are some fundraising tips over on Run for it too: http://www.runforit.org.uk/en/Fundraising/
Tania is on hols at the moment, but she is back next week so she'll be in touch soon to help you guys. If you're worried do let her know and we will be doing what we can to help
Piccolo - does your consultant know you are thinking about running the VLM? What was his/her advice? It does sound like it may do more damage and we definitely don't want you to be in lots of pain because of it - your health is more important!
Anyone off for a run today/tonight? In only managed 40 minutes at the weekend but am going to aim for a couple of runs during the week and then 8 miles on Sunday :crazyeyes
LauraO
Both consultant and physio were non-committal. I only saw each of them 3 times and my GP says it's not for them to have an opinion :banghead:
That's very frustrating, would be good if one of the experts could actually advise you! Have you run at all recently? If it hurts walking then it might be your body's way of saying it needs more time to heal.
G-Man: enough! You can see more at www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/TheSiteRunsForIt
hmmm. Yes. My instinct was that to try to train intensively now would be a bad idea but I'm very frustrated.
Arctic I think get involved with the running it is a team effort for fundraising and anything is better than nothing. I'm going to try rinsing my company on payday, sounds like a plan!
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Is your knee bad Purple? Have you seen a doc? Don't panic too much, although it seems stupid now and scary because it's suddenly January, there are still 15 weeks to go. Have you seen the programme I posted yesterday?
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Fund-raising wise - are you folks planning on doing any fundraising together as a team? I'm sure this has been discussed at some point and apologies if i'm out of the loop. We want to support you in your fundraising so it'd be great to hear your thoughts on this.
Thanks G for the very generous donation - you've made the fundraising page look pretty good!
The training plan I'm using is great and I'd like to send it to you all if I can as I think it's got a good balance of information (nutrition, types of pace etc) and structured running. If you'd like me to send it you please PM me your postal address by the end of the day if poss and I'll post you a photocopy (old skool I'm afraid - the plan was in the magazine we were all sent when we signed up for the marathon). Tell me if you consider yourself a beginner or intermediate (or advanced!) - intermediate would mean being comfortable jogging for one hour already and wanting to commit to training four days a week, with the aim of doing the marathon in 4.5 hours. Beginner would be starting pretty much from scratch with the aim of jogging all the way round on the day - a great achievement in itself.
The training plan is 13 weeks long. If you start it this week, you'll have two weeks to wind down before the marathon - as Gareth says, rest is very important too.
Another tip someone gave me is to join a running club for the longer runs - is anyone already part of a club, or know one they could join? Lots of cities have informal ones that aren't that expensive to join.
Piccolo - I know you're frustrated, but there's no way YouthNet would want you to run if you're injured. I'm pretty sure if you have an injury you can defer to next year. I'll check with Tania when she's back but perhaps this could be an option.
Same for you Purpledhaze. No way we'd want you training if you're not fit. When Tania's back, you can both discuss options with her - she's coming back on Monday so hold fire worrying about it until then, and please don't train if you're injured.
I did my first actual training run this morning -30 minute easy jog to work - felt good to be starting the actual training (though it hurt, obviously). Has anyone else started training for real yet? How's it feeling?
I think for me, it's lack of motivation/laziness to get out and run. I work full time now so I have to make time for it (whereas when I signed up for it, I was doing nothing), and I DO have enough spare time to run, but I just find that I'm just not motivated at all
I am worried about raising the money too, on my individual page I have raised nothing at all, which is a bit shit really, not good at all. I'm thinking about chatting to my HR team at work and seeing if I can organise some fundraising events, we have been given the ideas, it's just having the confidence to put them into practice which is the hardest bit, for me anyway. I feel a bit weird/cheeky maybe? asking people for sponsors, but I think that's a personal thing, always a bit weird about money.
I hope we can do something fundraising-wise together as a team, that would be pretty cool and I think I would feel more confident trying to raise money together rather than organising fundraisers alone because I am a bit shit :yes:
Thinking back to last year when we signed up, it was all YEAH! That sounds fun!, now it's like... FUCK what have I done
Stressing about whether I'm fit enough or not has been stopping me from even trying, but I will definitely promote the page massively whatever happens!
I found it really hard to raise money for the Royal Parks Half as well, I think it was to do with having done another fundraising run recently. People get fundraising fatigue so don't wait until everyone else posts their fundraising efforts to start...
I think I have a reasonable fitness level- cycle just over 6 miles a day, six times a week, and am on my feet 80% of the time at work, walking round. I have been on some pretty long family walks when younger, so I guess I could walk 26.2 miles if push comes to shove, I just want a bit of speed and to be able to jog as much as possible. I did see your plan thanks Laura, it sure beats the VLM on I was following where you only get one rest day, even as a beginner!
I'm sure looking back I will wonder why I had doubts but yeah, at this moment in time it seems like a mountain!