ONE MONTH TO GO!!!

From today we start counting down through the final month until race day... 31 deep and utterly exhausted sleeps, and counting... http://www.london-marathon.co.uk/

As Kate commented in the last blog, the overwhelming feeling at the moment is one of earth-shattering tiredness. I cannot sleep enough. My social life is on hold. I just want to go to sleep for a really really long time. But instead, I have to focus on doing my longest training run, and on fundraising an overwhelmingly large chunk of money.

This week we got our marathon packs in the post. My race number is 40-something-thousand. Just how many people run this crazy race? The one thing that hit home when I opened that parcel and looked at my race number was not ‘Oh crap, I’ve got to run 26 miles in five weeks time’, but more a feeling of complete and utter nerves at standing in a crowd of somewhere close to a grillion people and really really wanting to find my space and get a good race time.

I get nervous in crowds...panicky, anxious, hyperventilatingly nervous. What the heck was I thinking when I signed up for this? I’m not sure yet what my coping strategy is going to be! Head down, elbows out and run for my life? It’s tempting...

So far though, my training has been going really well. I knocked out 20 miles in 2h 54m on Sunday in Richmond (It was so nice to be back running there after three weeks away!). And I felt pretty good when I finished – it gives you quite a lot of confidence to finish a run that long, knowing that you could keep going if needed (and it will be needed in a few short weeks!).

I saw Gordon Ramsay out training too – running his laps in the opposite direction...it’s nice to see famous people make the same massive commitment of effort to this as us ordinary folk! One of the guys in the running club had seen Gordon training with company earlier in the morning – and thought that his company might have been Michel Roux...chefs training together... isn’t that nice! I wonder how competitive they’ll be on the day?

This weekend is going to be my long run. I’m planning to do 22 miles. Here’s hoping for more sunshine to do it in! The week after that, the running club is hosting a ‘run the second half of the marathon’ run, which should be really good – it’s a great opportunity to familiarise myself with the route and to check my pace on it too. I’ve ambitiously signed up to the 8.5min/mile group... I hope I can keep up!

Simon:
Looking at all the training schedules I’m clearly well behind which is a little worrying. I managed a 16 mile run on Saturday morning in 2 ½ hours which made me feel more confident. Until I read that I should be on minimum 18 miles by now!

It’s dawning on me just how much time commitment goes into training for a marathon...I’ve planned an 18 miler this weekend and will attempt 20 the weekend after which will be the furthest I’ll do before the big one.

Kate:
When my race pack arrived in the post I had a serious panic attack and when I think that this weekend it will only be 4 weeks away I start hyperventilating all over again. I feel like I’m about to take an exam I’ve done no revision for, though of course I have been training I just feel like I’m running out of time and that I haven’t done enough!!

I managed 18.5 miles at the weekend and want to do 20 this weekend but I’m pretty slow, still it’s the taking part that counts!!

I can’t even imagine how I will feel on the day, I think it’s going to be rather overwhelming standing in that crowd waiting for the gun to go, cue hyperventilating again...

Dan:
Well the reality kicked in for good on Tuesday when my running number dropped through the letter box. I guess that confirms it then! I start with the masses at the red start so will be well and truly amongst the crowds, which is slightly annoying as I really want a good time and don’t want to get held up too much.

I am actually feeling quite excited about getting this run done now and with 4 weeks left I just want to get it started. I feel prepared and hopefully all the training will have paid off, it is just down to a serious tapering over the next 4 weeks to ensure I don’t do myself any damage between now and the 26th.

All I can think about now is food, sleep and how quickly will my blisters heal so there isn’t much time for other things. With running almost 2 marathons a week at the minute it’s amazing how much food you consume and how quickly those pesky blisters appear no matter how much you try to stop them.