A Wise Owl thoughts on training for his first (and last) London Marathon

This page has 0 threads | Add post

Blogs

Finding our blogs useful? Please consider helping us to share more!

A Wise Owl thoughts on training for his first (and last!) London Marathon
Andy Brown of Wise Owl foolishly signed up to do the London Marathon this year, despite never having previously run more than a few miles. There are lots of runners who write about their experiences - but how many non-runners do?

Posted by Andy Brown on 03 March 2025

Some people love running. They go on about the endorphins released and the time they get to think. Lucky them: I just think it's really hard work!

This was me running the 2023 "Dovedale Dash", with my expression clearly showing how much I'm enjoying it.

So why go in for the London Marathon? Well, a charity I'm involved with asked if anyone wanted to take up a place in the London Marathon that they'd been allocated. I said I would if no one else stepped forward, assuming that my bluff wouldn't be called. But it was.

So for any non-runners out there, here are 5 things which you should know about long-distance running before you foolishly agree to sign up to it:

Number	What you should know	Why you should know it
1	It can be cold	The London Marathon this year is on Sunday April 27th, which means you have to do your training in January, February and March. Running when it's only a few degrees Centigrade in a biting wind is less fun that it sounds.
2	It takes ages	If you're reading this you've maybe done a Park Run, and got a bit bored as you jogged round for half an hour or so. But marathons last (for mortals) at least 4 hours, so how are you going to pass that time? Reflecting on your pain? I listen to podcasts, but even these can get a bit wearisome.
3	You'll need to eat	For short runs you may find what keeps you going is the thought of making (perhaps) some toast at the end, with a cup of tea. With a marathon your food is what you choose to carry with you. And if you find on your practice runs that you haven't brought enough food or water to sustain yourself through 4+ hours of intensive exercise ... well,that's a problem.
4	You'll get advice	As you may have gathered I'm not a runner, but I seem to know lots of people who are. You will constantly feel that you're not doing enough practice (in my case, probably with good reason), and be bombarded with advice on equipment that you should carry or training that you should undertake.
5	It affects every day (and night)	You would think that long-distance running would only be a problem on training days, but I'm finding that it hangs over me all the time, and even stops me sleeping properly at night. As I write this I know that tomorrow i've got to run about 15 miles (the most I'd ever run before this year was 6) and I'm dreading it!

But come the day itself - if I make it this far without injury - I know that the experience itself will be amazing and I'll be so glad I went through the pain of training. Everyone says that it's addictive, and you find yourself wanting to sign up for more marathons once you've done one: I'm pretty confident that this won't apply in my case.

Wish me luck!

This blog has 0 threads

Add a new post