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After the success of last years run, Bryony has decided to hang up her running shoes and concentrate on street dancing and eating chocolate and Ben H, the third member of the Teamof2Smiths(?) has realised that at his age he should know better and has decided to concentrate his talents on beer drinking and women.  This left me, Martin, running as the team of "Billy No Mates" once again until Ben, son and heir to the vast Smith fortune (which could be blown in one lunch time at a chinese takeaway), managed to gain a ballot place in the first Virgin London Marathon.  So, using the original title of Smith&Son, here we are, I was told the title of "Farta [as in German for Dad] & the Been" was not to be used!

Ben has already started training hard, as opposed to me, peeking from under the duvet during the cold December mornings and deciding that age and experience makes up for real training.  It is now January and even I have realised that the marathon is getting closer, so I have managed to clock a few miles.  We will both be training hard over the next few months to try and achieve our targets, Ben is aiming for around 3 hours 30 minutes and I am hoping to finish in under 3 hours.

Our Charity:

St Margaret's Somerset Hospice is committed to providing specialist palliative care, advice, support and respite to patients and their families living in Somerset and parts of neighbouring counties. Their care is available for those who have a terminal or life-limiting illness, for example cancer, motor neurone disease and chronic lung disease.

Through their medical expertise, nursing skills and specialist support services, they offer physical, emotional, social and spiritual care to their patients and families. Bereavement support is also available.

Their services are also available to patients where specialist knowledge, skills and expertise will provide relief for specific illness, such as symptom control, breathlessness management, lymphoedema treatment, physiotherapy and complementary therapies.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Update 7th Feb:

Martin has just done the Blackmore Vale Half Marathon, 1:25:13, so a good result on a tough course.  The challenge is now set for the Taunton Half Marathon, with both Ben and Martin entered, can Bens' superior training or Martins' experience win the day?

Update 12th April

Less than 2 weeks to go, on Sunday (11th) Ben and I ran the Taunton Half Marathon, on a warm but windy day. Ben ran a fantastic 1 hour 37 minutes, well inside his target time of 1 hour 40 , so all the training seems to have paid off and possibly giving him a 3 1/2 hour finish in London. I managed 1 hour 24 minutes, slower than I was aiming for, but hopefully still on target for a sub 3 hour marathon.

It's All Over!

With the Met Office forecasting sunshine we knew it would rain as we stood in the start pens waiting for the off!  In the end it was probably really good weather for a marathon, not too hot and not too windy, Ben had a great day and despite being brought to a standstill on a couple of occasions still managed a terrific 3:34:11, finishing 5,066th out of over 37,000 runners and 6 minutes faster than he was hoping for (and still looking fresh at the end).   Martin ended up doing 3:02:20, so just outside of his target of under 3 hours and starting in the Fast Good For Age Pen did not have the excuse of being held up at all.  Another Good For Age time means he will be back again next year for another London Marathon (number 8), so get ready for another assault on your pockets!

Ben is hoping he will be lucky again next year and get in, so it could be the dynamic duo will be pounding the streets of London once again!

Thank you again to all of you who sponsored us,

Ben & Martin