A new year is almost upon us, and soon it will be roughly three-and-a-half months until the marathon.
In the new year I will have to start emailing (read: begging) people for sponsorship. I have a feeling that raising the sponsorship money might be more difficult the second time round - there is this thing called "donor fatigue" - I did a fantastic job in the 2011 marathon raising over £3500, but it is not unusual to find a second attempt at the marathon, particularly without a gap after the first, a lot harder to raise sponsorship. Doing the marathon the first time, people were more than willing to donate - me taking part in some form of exercise was something of a novelty and as a result the money came flowing in. This time round, there is no novelty, and it is only a year after the first marathon, although the fact that I have completed one marathon should give potential donors lots of confidence in me being able to complete a second marathon. It's also down to the effects of the recession on fundraising and people are sealing up their wallets, quite understandably. Whatever happens, I am sure that I will raise the necessary funds. In fact, my ambition is to raise more money than in 2011's marathon. It's a lofty ambition but I am sure that it can be done.
My training is going well. The days are getting colder, the weather is getting worse and the nights are coming in earlier but I have still managed to get my fair share of training in. I have come back to my hometown in Essex over the Christmas holidays to spend time with my family and in my suitcase I brought with me my running gear. Marathon training doesn't take a holiday, I'm afraid. In fact, I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day doing a few miles on the treadmill in the gym so hopefully nobody can question my determination!
Yesterday I did some more training, not on the treadmill but on the streets again. Admittedly it was not one of the better training sessions I've had. In fact, it probably ranks among the worst. I've run in the pouring rain, I've been chased by dogs, nearly been hit by cars, but through all that, I was at least able to say that I managed to stay on my feet. Yesterday, I suffered the ignominy of falling over while on a run. I'm deeply embarrassed. It's all rather humiliating.
I was running through Chigwell and in an effort to avoid people walking on the pavement ahead, I moved to run alongside them but tripped over something and fell to the ground. I suffered cuts to my left wrist, right hand, some of my fingers, waist, elbows and my left knee. My left knee also has a particularly nasty bruise. I quickly picked myself up again and continued running for another six miles, bleeding and in slight pain. It would probably have been a better idea to go straight home after that fall but it's going to take more than a few cuts and bruises to make me give up once I've got going. It was mainly my pride that was hurt. The cuts and bruises actually hurt more when I'd got home again and put witch hazel on them and took a shower. I have a few plasters now on my various places and I've learned now to be a bit more careful in future when running. I guess you have to suffer for your art, if marathon running can be described as an art form.
