Day -181: Four failed marathons

I am four days away from my first London marathon. And, despite some slight calf tension and a sore back, I am relatively confident that, at the very least, I am going to make the start line. The niggles I put down to nerves (they call it maranoia) and arguably too much time spent on the golf course over the long easter weekend - I haven’t done a very good job at remembering that tapering is supposed to be time off feet, not just lower running volumes. 

It’s exciting to be this close. Finally. At the fifth time of trying. 

Every other attempt to run the London marathon has ended well before April in a disappointed heap of injury and burnout. In 2018 a horrible skiing accident was to blame, but every other failure has been completely of my own making, borne out of a lack of knowledge about how to train. 

So what’s different this time around? 

In one word - fun. 

In my previous London marathon training attempts I made pretty much every mistake going. Mistakes which made me miserable and eventually injured. This time around, I have enjoyed every session. Every early morning with a head torch, every frozen step, every exhausted mile at the end of a massive week. 

And because it has been fun, I haven’t missed a session. I’ve kept ahead of any niggles which, in the past, I would have let evolve into full blown injuries. I have incorporated holidays, which means I’ve been able to run in some wonderful locations, with wonderful people. I’ve used the training time to listen to brilliant audiobooks and catch up with friends (if you’re running slowly enough it’s perfectly acceptable to speak on the phone). Shadow has been on every run and she’s loved it too.  

For the last 22 weeks (no, you don’t need to train for that long, it’s a choice I made), marathon training has been a pleasure and a privilege.