The Day I Decided To Run A Marathon

It was two days before my 28th birthday, and I sat in a hotel room in Wellington (NZ) thinking ‘bloody heck I’m nearly thirty!’

I started to think about all the things I was sure I would have achieved before thirty, and realised the time was slowly running out.

Despite never having run a day in my life, I had always been sure I would run a marathon before turning thirty. No idea why I assumed this life event would happen with no intervention from me, I just thought it would.

Now my birthday is in March, and two of the major marathons in the South East of England both occur in April (London and Brighton). Again, I always just assumed one of these would be the marathon I would run. So basically, to achieve my goal of running a marathon before thirty, I would have to run in 2017! Eeek!

Anyway, I mulled it over for a bit before deciding: ‘yes, I’m going to run the 2017 Brighton Marathon’. I decided on Brighton as you can be get a guaranteed place (unlike London where it’s balloted and you don’t find out whether your in or not until October!)

I told my boyfriend, who told me I was mad, and that he did not believe I could do it! Slowly I convinced him I was determined to try, and eventually even persuaded him to sign up too (at least he’d run before).

So we managed to sign up from the other side of the world, but had the small barrier of being in the midst of a rtw trip, meaning we couldn’t actually start running (due to the lack of running gear and no space/money to pick this up on route). Therefore we waited until our return to the UK to start training.

It’s going to be a long slog to the marathon, but I’m pretty determined to succeed. I decided to formulate a hierarchy of goals for the challenge:
1) Complete the marathon
2) Run all the way (no walking breaks)
3) Finish in under 5 hours

Basically I want to complete goal number one as a priority, and the other two are optional.

I will keep you all updated on my progress.

Wish me luck!

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38 thoughts on “The Day I Decided To Run A Marathon”

  3. Michael Duncna says:
    Reply

    I just ran the San Diego Marathon, and it was definitely a challenge. I competed in D1 xc and track and my best advice to you is to take it easy the first half of the marathon. If you feel good going through mile 8, don’t push it. Keep your pace. You can always push hard miles 20-26 but if you’re dead at mile 20 those last 6 miles could be the hardest 6 of your running career. BEST OF LUCK!

    Liked by 1 person

  6. battarbeefamily says:
    Reply

    i just entered the lottery for the London Marathon! Who knows, I may be running my first next year too. I just trained and ran my first half marathon….at 46, I’m a late starter on distance running but you’ve got to have goals, right? 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  9. kemibon says:
    Reply

    Chuffed right along with you! My husband ran a half marathon in Texas last year and he was so happy going on about how he kept running even in the rain and finished. Wish you the best!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. adventuredawgs says:
    Reply

    That’s awesome. I ran my first marathon last year and am back into training. The best part is that you have given yourself lots of time to slowly increase your running so I’m sure you’ll do just fine!! You rock.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. E. Denise Billups says:
    Reply

    Hi! I like your hierarchy of goals. The first marathon is the hardest. One lesson I learned the hard way, don’t run out of the gate at a high speed. Start slow, pace, pace, pace, and you will make it! Congratulations on your pursuit to become a marathoner. It’s addictive, and you’ll come back for more!

    Liked by 1 person

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