Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

 

I was lucky enough to win a ballot place in the Marathon and I wanted to use this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to raise some money for a charity that is not already represented with paid-for sponsorship places to help spread the goodwill around.

 

I've chosen the Trussel Trust because while growing up I was indeed fortunate enough to have had a good childhood with few real problems but there were many times where it was just me and my mum living off a single parent income or sometimes benefits and money was so scarce we would struggle to find money for food without the help/intervention of family/friends, so I know first hand how a life on benefits is not the cake-walk some people may have you believe and what it's like to have to live where decisions like paying for heating or buying food are very real.

 

Thankfully for us, this was a somewhat rare occurence but with the current assault on the poor in the name of austerity this is now a day to day reality for many of our country's poorest and most vulnerable people. That we even need food banks in the UK in this day and age is a terrible state of affairs but they offer literally a last resort for people whose families would otherwise go hungry. That to me makes for a cause worthy of support.

 

For those interested in why I'm running the Marathon at all, firstly how have I not bored you with this already? Do I know you?

 

I took up running in 2010 when my Dad suffered a mild stroke and I decided that like he did I needed to take better care of my health, So I took up running, ate healthier and went from a hefty 19.5 stone down to a much more svelte 14 stone over the course of about 5 months. During that time I ran my first 5km in 32m29s and then a few months later set a personal best of 22m28s. I also ran some  10km distance races and was known to even do the odd 10-11 mile training run with some very athletic triathlete types. 

 

I then got into cycling and the running took a back seat for a few years and thanks to being hit by a van and the subsequent recuperation and drop in fitness levels the weight slowly started to creep back little by little over the last year or two. 

 

so one drunken evening in April/May last year I decided that I would quite like to get back to running again and so signed up for the ballot for the marathon for a heavy dose of motivation. Come september I was pleasantly horrified to see that I had won a place! shit, now I actually had to start running again.

 

Getting back into running fitness again was tough. Cycling does not lend itself to running at all and I started almost at the beginning again, struggling to complete 5k without walking some parts. But I persevered and by november I was back to running 10km distance runs almost as fast as I could before, A few minor injuries popped up as my body got used to the new stresses but by and large I was fine.

 

Then it came time to choose a training plan and in the end I opted for slightly non-standard one, the hansons marathon method, a plan centred on running 6 days a week covering much higher mileage than a typical plan might see you running but with the long run topping out at 16 miles. the idea is to get you used to running tired and boy am I used to it now. with 7 weeks to go I am now regularly running over 50 miles a week and will continue to do so until I taper for the race. this has required a mammoth amount of dedication to the training and I truly am tired pretty much all of the time, but now I feel roughly the same about going out and running a 16 miler as I did before a 3 mile run 5 months ago. The hard work is paying off.

 

I figure if you want to do something of this magnitude you should do it well and based on my training goals and my race times at 5k and 10k distance I am hoping to cross the finish line somewhere between 3h40m and 4h00m barring the kind of unexpected delays running 26.2 miles can throw at you.

 

I don't have the time or the energy to actively fundraise so this page is the extent of my efforts but if you believe in this cause like I do please feel free to share this page around and help me raise some money to help some of our fellow countrymen (persons? countryhumans) live a semblance of a 'normal' life without hunger. 

 

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