Ron Bloomfield was bonkers!  That might explain his son Philip's behaviour.  Unfortunately Ron died of Parkinson's related disease in January 2004.  Phil ran the Marathon in 2004 and raised over £5000.00 for the Sarcoid Fund at UCLH.  Phil chose this charity because his mate John Burrows needed a life saving lung transplant which has been successful!  Now he wants to run for his Dad, and Parkinsons, please support these two nutcases, one deceased and one about to go..........!         
                                                               Marathon  Race Training

           I began last summer in Spain on my hols, a long slow programme, surely best at my age!   Lots of hill work, things are looking good. Back to Blighty to continue regular training. Apart from feeling mentally crap, running is OK, but I can't seem to get motivated .Two races in October go well, albeit at a slow pace, but they have the desired effect; I am out of my tourper and ready to increase my distance to at least 20 miles a week, by Christmas. This I achieve and feel great, ready for the big push in 2010  Two days after Christmas I bugger my left instep trying to keep up with my mate Lynda, as she flies up Muswell hill... great , its not good , but at least the Arctic conditions would slow me down anyway. I decide to launch into some physio exercises I used to do ; and immediately give myself a groin strain, very painful and will take along time to heal , how fabulous, what an idiot I am. I then develop savage man flu to finish off January .....I do like to wallow.                                                                                                      Ive entered the Watford half , 6 Feb , which I will have to duck because of the lack of training ; I did go out and do 6 miles the other day just to see , and I'm not up to it . so now I will put all my efforts into preparing for the Bath half.
         Its now Valentines day , I've hardly run , I only got one card  , so I'm feeling very sorry for myself. My groin is still bad and only 10 weeks to go........help ! I forgot to mention that I'm on antibiotics for a savage sinus infection as a result of my man flu , and I haven't had a drink since new years eve!                                                                                Its now 27 Feb , Ive only run twice since Valentines day and next week end is the Bath half so I must do a 10 mile  tomorrow at least , the good news is that I'm almost human again and appear to be recovering from all my ailments,thank the Lord !                                                                                                            
         It's been so cold and I felt crap , so I've delayed, until my Tuesday run with Wendy, I could hardly keep up with her so I decided to have an hours break before running 12 more miles down the river Lea. It was very tough , dehydrated and partially hitting the wall ; I limped home, a total of 17.3miles later.
          The distance has aggravated groin and instep but I should be OK for bath. The day has arrived bitterly cold, with a savage wind . I get round somehow, 4 minutes longer than my expected time , so all is not lost and I must continue to work. 10 march is my recovery run and I'm still in one piece, just.
          There are now only two weeks to go (its 12 April ) Since I last wrote things got much worse, both groin and sinus came back. Now on serious antibiotics, steroids drops, inhalations etc and I managed to tweak my other groin whilst compensating for the other one. I'm now so fed up, I am thinking of giving up because I've been so injured
 and ill; somehow Dad keeps me going, and now in a funny way I get things back in perspective ; this marathon is, as I always knew, for charity, and not for me and no matter what happens I will continue.
            So I struggle on, I've now run over a dozen times since my recovery run, my running mate Wendy has been very encouraging and I've managed a few long runs too, a16 mile effort , and I bought some new shoes just in time for the big day .
            Sunday prior to marathon Sunday is my last race, the Chiswick 10 mile, its a beautiful morning and a great race along the Thames towpath, things go well I finish in a decent time; at a pace just under 10 minute mileing . Groin and instep a little tender, but my sinus problem seems to have been clobbered finally.
             So with a week to go and I feel thoroughly unprepared --- oh well whats the expression ?  JUST DO IT !!!!
My last training run on the Tuesday feels surreal, Wendy wishes me all the best, we part and I go home with my thoughts......terror really. The rest of the week just disappears, my running mentor Laurence accompanies me to Ex cel where I collect my running number, we have the obligatory pasta lunch wonder around the various stands. I go to the PDS stand and say hallo and then go home.
              Suddenly its 6 .00 am. marathon morning I cant really believe it, this is it. I make my way to Blackheath with the rest of the world and the buzz begins ; change , grease up , into the start pen and we are off. To document the whole race would bore you rigid ,suffice to say it was incredible. At one point I hold hands with another runner who is running for her mother,  no words between us are necessary; I will never forget that moment. The crowds and support get you through, my lot are brilliant at Blackfriars , just when I cant manage another step they scream at me....... I have to finish and indeed I somehow cross the line     DONE !!!!!!   never again ..................well you never know.
               So I pick up my medal and bag and go to the hotel where friends and family all meet me, with the PDS       entourage ; its a great occasion, photos are taken, the runners are applauded. even me! I get a massage, we eat and drink tell our stories and finally make a weary journey home. Is it really over? well YES it is  ...........   and I can truly say that I am relieved, uplifted and genuinely feel that I have done something worthwhile.                                                    Finally I would to say a big thank you to all my long suffering friends and family who have had to put up with me moaning for months ,sorry!                                     
                     To all the PDS staff you deserve a massive pat on the back , because without you, we couldn't do it either ........ and of course to all the people who have so generously donated to this most deserving charity THANK YOU      THANK YOU    THANK YOU          without you I couldn't go on holiday this year    lv Phil