Saturday 31 March 2007

My Marathon Running

Running is my passion, and there is nothing more rewarding than to rise to a challenge that can benefit others whilst enjoying something that you love so much. I have ran in a number of marathons before, but over the last few years, I have twice ran two marathons back to back while raising money for Children with Leukaemia. In 2005 I ran in the Paris Marathon and then the following week in the London Marathon. Last year I ran in the Rotterdam Marathon and again followed on with the London Marathon the week after. So, after two back to back marathons, it seemed obvious for my next challenge to be three....or even four back to back marathons.

I suppose this wild idea of mine was bourne last year. Paula, my wife, and I were due to run in the New York Marathon, again running for Children with Leukaemia. Sadly Paula had contracted the Epstein-barr Virus (EBV), a very debillitating virus, which saps your body of energy and renders the sufferer with permanent tiredness. This meant that her training for a marathon was almost an impossible task. We had no choice other than to cancel our places and forego a wonderful oportunity.

In the months after, I continued my marathon training and decided to run in the Leicester Marathon in October as preparation for the Snowdon Marathon (very scenic as seen in the above photo) two weeks later. In this race I achieved a PB by taking 13 minutes off my previous marathon best and finishing in a time of 3hrs 23mins. Two weeks later I ran in the Snowdonia Marathon and finally in one of the last marathons of the year, I took part in the Luton Marathon at the beginning of December. I was now looking forward to my next challenge in 2007.