POST MARATHON UPDATE!!!! Despite worries about the condition of my knee after the last big training run two weeks ago, on Sunday 22nd April 2012 I completed my first (and last) marathon in 5 hours and 18 minutes. The combination of support from family, friends and colleagues, who have helped me fundraise well on the way to my £1,000 target, and the fabulous atmosphere on the day, got me round, despite having to hobble pretty much the final third of the run. Thanks to all who supported me. It's great to know that the kids on the summer camps at Mablethorpe this year will benefit from the money YOU have donated. Thanks again - Sean. :)

St. Vincent De Paul provides summer breaks for kids from tough inner-city environments. We run a boys camp, a girls camp and a deaf camp, and although we can't put their worlds to rights in a week, we provide a temporary haven for some kids from desperately sad day to day situations. We have a fairly run down site in Mablethorpe, that for one week a year is the nearest many of them will ever get to a holiday. My family has been very closely involved with the Charity and the camp for many years, and although it’s some years since I went along as a camp leader, it’s still a cause very dear to my heart. I have seen children who have had their lives transformed by coming to camp… It is a really big deal for some of them! So… how did I come to be running the London marathon? Read on….

Last April, a work-friend of mine went to cheer on 2 of her friends. On her return she was singing the praises of her two friends who had undertaken this gargantuan task. What time had they taken? She wasn't sure about his time; she thought about 5 hours, but knew her girl-friend's time was 7 hours. Enter moi stage left, to deliver the most ill-thought-out, and possibly the one sentence that I'll regret more than any other I'm likely to utter for the rest of my life. "7 hours! Crikey I could walk it in that time! ". The silence was deafening. I swear I could actually hear the tumbleweed crossing the room. She looked at me with a mixture of dismay and disgust. "If you're so bloody clever, why don't you do it!". I blustered desperately for something to say. Ok then, I will!" I knew it was a mistake, but I knew I would never be called to account. I'd saved face, I thought. Honour was assuaged, with this idle boast.

If only life were that simple! My friend told me that they were taking entries for next year’s marathon, and that she intended to enter. Of course, I said I would too. Ahh! All I had to do was enter the ballot, and in October, when the successful applicants were announced, I’d say I would have loved to do it!

So… come October… without warning… I got home to find my letter. It was A4 sized, as it included a running magazine. This was ominous! It was covered in a semi-opaque plastic. I pressed down on it without opening it, and I could clearly make out the words "Congratulations, you have been successful..." Congratulations! I thought, I haven't run for over twenty years!

Since then I've been in a state of panic. I'm going to have to drag my sorry butt through miles of training. I HATE running! I'm 46 now, but between the ages of 16 and 23, I used to be in the army, and for the last couple of years I worked as a PT Instructor. “Ah, a doddle then”, I can hear you say. That would be the case, if I had participated in any form of physical exercise for the last 23 years of my life! Ha! I'm ashamed to say I've been smoking since I was 11. A tiny crumb of comfort is that I'm in the process of stopping and haven't had one for a couple of months now, but there's still 35 years of fags and 23 years of inertia to get past before judgement day. I'm not ashamed to say I'm terrified!

So, now I'm going to have to take my first nervous steps to some form of training. I'm going to have to start at the very beginning, maybe as little as a mile run and walk to begin to reverse this near quarter century of being a complete sloth.

I'll try to update my pathetic progress warts and all on here. Look out for photos. I think it'll probably be pretty much exclusively warts. If you want to sponsor me and can stay with me… keep checking in and I’ll update you. In the meantime… if you can bring yourself to sponsor me up front you know it’s all for a good cause! Wish me luck….. I think I'm going to need it.

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