I’ve done half of it once. My reaction then was ’There is no way, EVER, that I’m doing the double of this. Never!!!’. That was 3 ½ years ago and what I’m talking about is a half marathon and a marathon. Somehow I’ve ended up officially registered, today, in the 2008 Flora London Marathon, running for H·E·A·R·T UK and Teamredlaces. I’ve got 4 months, 28 days, 11 hours and 50 min until I’m standing there, about to cross the start line. How do I feel? Today I’m absolutely thrilled.
I’ve always wanted to complete one but the half marathon in 2004, which to be honest, I didn’t train nearly enough for (longest run before that – 10km) put me off it a bit. I could hardly walk and had to take the elevator up and down when getting around Copenhagen Business School where I studied. Stairs were simply out of the question. The half marathon itself, amazing but bloody hard. In all honesty I’ve been a bit scared by the thought of actually signing up for one. Not to speak about all training devotion it requires. But then, 2 weeks ago, I had one of those moments that I get sometime. Some people call them impulses. For me they are more of a 'all-of-a-suddens-I'm-going-to-do-this-and-nothing-you-can-say-or-do-will-stop-me' (other people call that stubbornness). So in that moment I decided to run the London marathon. Being me I straightaway looked into it only to find out that it was no longer possible to register for your own place in the marathon. The only thing available was signing up through a charity and hope that they would 'give' you one of their places.
Like a little child who’s gotten something into his/her little head and then finds out that they can’t get it, right here, right now, I wanted it even more. My mind was set on that I was going to run the 2008 marathon, in London, nowhere else, and it was going to be amazing! All thoughts of doubt were pushed out of my head and left was stubborn little me, determined to find a way.
As soon as I got home I did some research on the charities and H·E·A·R·T UK was the obvious choice for me (Why? I’ll cover that very soon). I emailed them and got an answer the next day saying that Teamredlaces was nearly full but that I should register on their site. I registered, thinking in the back of my head that perhaps it’s all for the best if I don’t get offered one. After all it was only 5 months and 7 days left and sure, I run a few times a week and have been doing so for the last few years, but I haven’t run longer than 9km since the half mara.
The day after, I got an email saying that I’d been offered a place! I was absolutely thrilled and terrified at the same time. Would I really be able to do it? Would my knees be able to handle all the training? Well, who knows. It doesn’t really matter. I’ve set my mind to it, I’ve got a place, and I’m going to do it. And today I’ve got the payment receipt of the entry fee in my inbox.
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