Training Diary Part Three
The good news so far, is that the training is more or less going to plan and has been injury free apart from a few niggles. It’s been a hectic month with the real world pushing away at the time available for training. At the time of writing in mid-March, I’m now up to long runs of about sixteen miles with the longest training run planned for the third weekend of March. This should be about nineteen or twenty miles which should then allow a three week ‘taper,’ where I’m still out running but for shorter distances.
That’s not to say the training has been easy, it does impact on family time when you disappear for three or four hours and come back exhausted and hardly able to walk! It means that the day after a long run, stairs are usually best avoided as they use parts of your legs which, quite frankly, had ‘quite enough to do the day before thank you very much and we don’t want to play anymore.’
The time I spend alone running, is however, great thinking time where I can clear my head and am often mentally refreshed even when I’m physically the opposite! It is also probably true what they say that much of the challenge is in the mind. It is about perseverance, keeping going even when it hurts and not giving up at the first setback. There are many of life’s challenges which can be reflected in preparing for a marathon.
I know I’ll never be really fast, I’m not going to win or set a new record. But God willing, I will finish, I won’t give up and that attitude can be really useful in other aspects of life. When a situation seems tough, it’s always good to have the knowledge that I have done something difficult in the past to draw on.
The London Marathon is one of the world’s biggest sporting events. It’s also a huge fundraiser with millions raised every year for thousands of charities. I’ll be running for Christian Aid ‘Team Poverty’ and am hoping that, with your support, I can raise some substantial funds which can really make a difference to people anywhere in the world for whom not having enough food or basic essentials is just a fact of life.
Thank you to those of you who have already agreed to sponsor me. It isn’t too late and there is a sponsorship form at the back of St Georges. You can also donate online here: www.justgiving.com/Andrew-Hill-London-Marathon-2011
As well as being a time for reflection and prayer when running, I also listen to music and often have songs running around in my head, sometimes just one line like this, which seems apt when I’m on a country lane miles from home;
I will be with you wherever you go,
go now throughout the world,
I will be with you in all that you say,
go now and spread my word.
I’ll report back after the race to let you know how I got on.
That’s not to say the training has been easy, it does impact on family time when you disappear for three or four hours and come back exhausted and hardly able to walk! It means that the day after a long run, stairs are usually best avoided as they use parts of your legs which, quite frankly, had ‘quite enough to do the day before thank you very much and we don’t want to play anymore.’
The time I spend alone running, is however, great thinking time where I can clear my head and am often mentally refreshed even when I’m physically the opposite! It is also probably true what they say that much of the challenge is in the mind. It is about perseverance, keeping going even when it hurts and not giving up at the first setback. There are many of life’s challenges which can be reflected in preparing for a marathon.
I know I’ll never be really fast, I’m not going to win or set a new record. But God willing, I will finish, I won’t give up and that attitude can be really useful in other aspects of life. When a situation seems tough, it’s always good to have the knowledge that I have done something difficult in the past to draw on.
The London Marathon is one of the world’s biggest sporting events. It’s also a huge fundraiser with millions raised every year for thousands of charities. I’ll be running for Christian Aid ‘Team Poverty’ and am hoping that, with your support, I can raise some substantial funds which can really make a difference to people anywhere in the world for whom not having enough food or basic essentials is just a fact of life.
Thank you to those of you who have already agreed to sponsor me. It isn’t too late and there is a sponsorship form at the back of St Georges. You can also donate online here: www.justgiving.com/Andrew-Hill-London-Marathon-2011
As well as being a time for reflection and prayer when running, I also listen to music and often have songs running around in my head, sometimes just one line like this, which seems apt when I’m on a country lane miles from home;
I will be with you wherever you go,
go now throughout the world,
I will be with you in all that you say,
go now and spread my word.
I’ll report back after the race to let you know how I got on.
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