I had planned on doing a few more updates between this one and my last but hey ho! We’re finally almost there, less than two weeks to go until the big dance, London Marathon 2017. I can’t say I’m feeling 1oo% prepared but the excitement is definitely starting to creep in and I’ve already been entertaining thoughts of entering another and actually really focusing on the training, giving myself a full four months or so as opposed to the two and a half I’ve had this time.

I’m also determined to keep my base going because that’s the main thing that has made this marathon training ten times harder for me, starting from zero, not zero fitness but definitely zero running fitness. Having that solid base already there would have meant less recovery time after my long runs and therefore less missed runs overall. I have been finding that each week when the long run has been around or over 15 miles, it’s all new to me and my body and therefore has been hurting hard and taking me forever to recover. Each of those long runs has also brought painful little niggles to the surface that I haven’t wanted to push for fear of injuring myself properly. So yeah, someone hold me accountable please? I have to keep running weekly, even if it’s just once or twice!

That way who knows, maybe finally an Ironman can be on the cards – it has always been the run that has put me off entering one, well… that and the ridiculous price tag.

Back to the update, where am I at now?

Well, I thought I was on the verge of really buggering up my quad but each time I felt a strain, I backed off and now I’ve had a whole week pain free, even after 13 miles at the weekend. I’m calling that a win. I still have various aches and pains after 10 miles or so – namely hip flexors, although they only really hurt when I stop so, y’know… an extra incentive to keep on running!

A few stats;

My longest run to date – 18.8 miles. I would have preferred to do at least 20 but I was in Mykonos the last week where it would have been possible and I was still dealing with the quad thing.

Miles run during marathon training – 175. Which works out at about 80 miles per month over my two and a bit months – Still got a week or so to go! I know it’s not a lot in the scheme of marathon training however it’s almost half the amount of miles that I’ve ran in total, ever. Well ‘ever’ in terms of Strava so you know, just a bit of a jump!

Hours spent running – 28. Which is also my expected finish time. (Ha!)

Hours spent talking about the marathon – 589,021. Sorry about that!

Calories consumed – 871,897,000. So much for leaning down. (Jokes, I definitely don’t count calories although I know being a bit lighter would help me no end over 26.2 miles. Bit too late to be worrying about that now though!)

Are you running? How are you feeling? Nervous, prepared, excited, terrified… all of the above? Can’t wait to see you all out there on race day, smashing it and taking care of business on that iconic route.

Virgin London Marathon, we’re coming for ya!

Want to see how I got on? Click here.