‘You’re crazy for doing a marathon’
Where do i start? The reason to run a marathon I guess; the personal challenge to get around 26.2 miles and survive is the main one for me. However, it comes with loads of other worthwhile reasons like personal health, bringing awareness and raising monies for worthy charities and causes and to see the sights of London in quite unique circumstances.
The London Marathon is arguable one of the world’s most famous races so if you’re going to do one you might as well aim for the top, its something that has been on my bucket list for a while. People will say ‘you’re crazy for doing a marathon’ but surely that’s what a bucket list is all about, doing the extraordinary things in life.
I have never really been a runner, however I find it is an activity that gives me the best health benefits, both physically and mentally. I did the Brighton Marathon at the beginning of 2017, which was my first. I trained for about 12 weeks, ran it in 4hrs and 51min and lost about 9kgs for my troubles. Unfortunately, I have put half of that weight back on, something that is disappointing and I need to address this time around. I’m aiming to break 4hrs and 30min for the 2018 London Marathon and hopefully I’m in a better position now then I was this time last year.
📸Stephen taking some time out from training over Christmas
Losing weight and teaching good habits
Training for a marathon does allow you to lose weight but it also can teach you some good habits around looking after yourself and controlling your eating and drinking. I’m by no means an ideal student on this front however when you’re training as much as you do for a marathon it’s a crime if you don’t alter your bad habits somewhat.
I find training is like a drug and you find yourself craving it once you get into it, this can only be a good thing and one that if you can work into your everyday routine it will have so many positive benefits.
To also succeed I think you need a supportive set of family, friends or team around you whether that be out their running with you or pushing you out the door to keep your runs going. Let’s be honest, life can be busy and exercise is something that can get wiped of the to-do list quite easily. It’s especially hard in the middle of the dark and cold of winter to sometimes keep at it and even the most committed will struggle. I’m very lucky and grateful to have this support around me.
Life is full of challenges, people face them every day and they come in all shapes and sizes. I’m hoping that on the 22nd April 2018 I can overcome this one, it will feel great if I can!
Please pop in and keep up to date with my progress on my charity page here and if you can support the great work the charity I’m running for do.
