Week 5 of our guide to training for the London Marathon.

This week, Equipment: Running with a rucksack through London can have it's benefits.

You can donate to our wonderful cause here. Thanks everyone
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/truegits_wellchild

Several thousand little steps

It happened a few years ago now. I was getting into off road military style running events and it was a wish of mine to get all of my mates to do one together for a laugh and a bit of male bonding. A night out playing pool seemed the perfect opportunity to coax everyone into it, especially after a few beers and a bit of banter.

As I expected a lot of them poured scorn over the idea and a couple of people came under fire for being unfit/lazy/too out of shape to make it round the course etc. As the beers flowed the banter became more targeted. One of them was taken a back somewhat at being put into such a category and vowed to do it. 

What happened from that point forward has been nothing short of astonishing, though I should have known because he's always been the sort of person that if told he can't do something, will make very sure he does, and will do it very well. That has always been his major strength – determination, will power and a never-say-die attitude. Needless to say he ran the race, he did well but felt he could do better and myself, him and another friend began to enter all kinds of races, both on and off-road. 

His relationship with running has always been a bit love-hate. It loves him, and he hates it! He's lost weight, is less stressed and more healthy in general but because he puts so much effort into it, there's always a large part of him that dreads the idea of it. Personally I think that comes down to the fact that he won't just go out for a jog, he will do his best to go out and beat the last run he did so he can see evidence of progress… That's him, always pushing himself to do and be more.

Anyway, it just occurred to me, just over a month away from starting his first marathon what an incredible journey he's been on, and it's been a pleasure being there with him. 200+ runs, well over a thousand miles covered and 170,000 calories burned. Take a bow Eamonn Foy, you are a genuine runner, whether you like it or not!  ;  )

Week 3 of our guide to training for the London Marathon.

This week: Hydration, the key to peak performance!?

Week 2 of our guide to training for the London Marathon.

This week we focus on speed: Train like Rocky! (Just replace the chicken with a London pigeon). 

You can donate to our wonderful cause here. Thanks everyone
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=truegits_wellchild&isTeam=true

Guide to training for the London Marathon

We've decided to publish a little 'Guide to training for the London Marathon', TrueGrit style...keep an eye out for our week by week photos and captions (feel free to add your own?!). Enjoy and don't forget to sponsor us at http://alturl.com/gb9pe its for a great cause and any donation would be appreciated.

1. First and foremost realise that you're not the only one trying to help Children in the UK!

Long time no see...

Well its been a while...firstly we'd like to say thank you to everyone who joined us at our fundraising day at the Tollington last October! It was a great afternoon and thanks to everyone's generous donations we managed to raise over £1900! This means, to date we have raised £2347, WOW! For those that haven't sponsored us yet, there's still time!

Shoes, shoes, shoes

Well not the greatest of marathon prep but I sit here writing this post in a pub. However, it is not all bad. Just came from Asics store in Oxford Circus. Two of our three man team went along for a full running assessment. They take a 3d scan of your feet (weird) measuring everything from the height of your little toe to the long toe nail I should of cut before going! Then they put you on a treadmill and measure you gait, not the one at the front of you house but, the length and direction of your running style. What we learnt is that I run like kaiser soze, and have been doing so for years. Apparently I have slight pronation on my right foot. News to me. This then led to a direct recommendation of the right shoe for me. In the past I have gone for the ones that look cool, what I left the store with is something that looks like I should be running on the moon with. My daughter would call them sparkly! The proof as they say will be in the pudding, hopefully these will keep me injury free and help shave off those valuable few seconds, whatever happens I should be able to run faster as my pocket is now considerably lighter. I will let you know my progress. Again don't forget to sponsor us, it won't make my wallet heavier but it will make wellchild's, a great charity helping children in the UK.
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=truegits_wellchild&pageUrl=2&isTeam=true