Ian Larman
Ian's Running page
Fundraising for SERV
Story
This page closes on the 1st August 2011. Thank you for your donations.
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. As most of you know I started running about 14 months ago to keep fit. I joined a local running club and entered several races, including the Milton Keynes and Silverstone half Marathons. I also entered and finished the Virgin London Marathon 2010. Great, I really enjoyed the day.
I became involved in SERV as a result of my sons involvement, they wanted someone to take some photos and the rest is history. They are a group of volunteer car and bike riders that carry blood products, between the hours of 19:00 and 06:00, around Herts and Beds collecting and delivering to Hospitals when required, FREE!! saving the NHS thousands of pounds a year. NO government funding is provided, everything from fuel, Insurance, road tax and maintenence is found by the individual riders of their cars and bikes.
This year I have enterd the following races and hope to raise as much money for SERV as possible, so please donate to this, every penny helps.
Well, what a fantastic day, weather started just right for running and 8 members of SERV travelling to watch me run, thanks guys it is a real boost to have this support. After arriving at the baggage lorries and depositing my bag i set about warming up. Thousands of other runners attended this event which had the added attraction on being held on the 10/10/2010 and starting at 10:10:10.
Starting slowly as the number of runners filled the road so overtaking was quite hard to do. Getting into my stride and taking water at the first 'Water Station' the temp was slowly increasing which started to have an effect on some of the runners. Anyway keeping focused i managed to complete the Half in 1:44:07. Placed 758 out of 3177 finishers!
This is the second time i have run this event. Great atmosphere with 10600 runners including a late Jordon!! Race was delayed 10 mins. So we all got cold waiting for her and her 4 heavyweights. Anyway off we went, out came the sun. I had set a plan to run just in front of the 1 hr 45 runners so i could get home a few minutes quicker than last year. Making good progress i managed to keep on the pace for 6 miles. Then i started to feel i was dropping off the pace. The wind at silverstone always seems to get you whatever direction you run. Checking the next mile marker my thoughts were right. keeping the pace as high as i could i managed to get to the last mile before the 1hr 45min group caught me! Hanging off the back of that group i managed to get over the line in 1hr 45min. My position was 1199 overall and 13th in my catagory. WELL CHUFFED.
Well I was a bit unsure whether to run this as sadly my brothers funeral was 4 days before this event. Anyway i got myself to bed at a decent time and woke at 6am. Quick breakfast and then the long walk, about 1 mile to the start. The weather was going to be hot with an expected 21 degree so i knew it was going to be hot and tough.
Resisting the temptation to keep looking at my Garmin i just ran at a comfortable pace. Taking on water and the lucozade from the drink stations around the course. Stephanie had agreed to meet me at 13 miles for jelly babies and water. Perfect the plan worked. Back to the running. 21 miles and i needed to get some water on board very hot and the race along the prom to come. Turning onto the prom and the crowds enlarged, fantastic, what a lift. Head down and off we went. With approx half mile to go i checked the watch. 03:59:00 Not realising i was running so well i tried to get under the 4 hour mark. Reaching the line in 04:01:35. Well chuffed knocking 35 mins of my 2010 London time. Great event and fantastic support. Thanks everyone.
Well here we are in Edinburgh, 2 marathons in 6 weeks. Not sure if this is going to be sensible, but anyway Im here. Travelled up by train which was a big result and stress free. Booked into 'The Point' hotel. Basic but very clean and good grub, so thats all that matters. Following on from Brighton i was determined to break the 4 hour barrier!! Looking at the course profile i could see that it is all downhill, as such, for the first 6 miles, so the plan was to try and get as much distance covered while i was able. On the morning of the race the weather was poor. Cold wet and very windy, BUT it was on our backs, result. Looks like part of the plan might work. Use the wind on the out leg i hoped that it might drop later in the day so the return might be a bit easier!!
Anyway we got underway 20,000 runners, what a fantastic site. Keeping my game plan in my head i gradually opened up a barrier between me and my projected time. By the time i got to the turn for home the wind was quite strong, unlike me. I tried to find all the big runners but us runners are thin, so could not find anyone to hide behind out of the wind. I could feel the legs getting heavy, so it was time to start calculating my slower running into the plan. I estimated that i had built up a lead on my projected time that equalted to 1.25 miles.
As the miles went by i could see i was getting slower, but still on to beat the 4 hours. Taking on plenty of water i managed to get back to the crowds, they are so important to runners as they really do lift your spirits. As i approached the last mile i was greeted by a crowd of runners from my club. Fantastic just what i needed especially as they knew what i was trying to achieve. Last effort to the line, quick look at the watch and decided i had done it. Running through the finish and stopping the watch on 3hours 57mins 35 secs.
Finishing 3602
BRILLIANT!! Done it.
From the finish line to collecting my medal was very quiet, so i had time to reflect, thats when a wave of emotion came over me. Anyway managed to get it together before collecting the medal.
Thanks Edinburgh for a great weekend.
Others to follow.
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.