London Marathon 08: 42 Days to go & Counting!

Mission Accomplished

I managed to complete the 26.2 miles in a time of 3hrs 23min's and 29seconds coming in a respectable 3,509th position.

Proof is available at: http://results-2008.london-marathon.co.uk/index.php?lastname=Harrington&firstname=Mathew&club=&gender=&nation=&event_id=MAS&position=&split=FINISHNET&Submit=show+results+%3E%3E&a=d&o=s&start_no=21792&ostart_no=

A Big THANK YOU to everyone who sponsored me, sent me a good luck message or came on a training run with me (even if it was on a bike!) I think I used up all those good luck messages just to get me round the course without doing further damage to my calf. Also a big thanks to the physio who made it possible for me to even run at all. I started the day with one leg taped up and finished with two taped up!

So, how was the race?

Horrible, painful, slightly more painful, then excruciatingly painful. Because i haven't been able to train for 3 weeks prior to it, my legs had no strength in them so by mile 16 they had nothing left & I had hit the dreaded wall. Its strange because in all my training runs I hadn't hit the wall once, & I had reached the 22 mile mark twice, with a sub 3hr time, so I was used to running a lot quicker. Anyway, from mile 16 onwards I just had to do my best to get round without doing further damage to myself. There were loads of people dropping out all over the place from mile 14 onwards. To those of you that sponsored me, you kept me going for those last 10 miles. I was trying to come up with a good excuse as to why I dropped out but I couldn't think of one so I carried on! It was hurting so much I was doing some pathetic running towards the end and was being overtaken by all kinds of people. I remember a clown going past me, and a man with a prosthetic leg, even my Grandma at 83 could have wandered past me I think.

Ive also been asked a few times if I will be doing it next year:
No thanks! I would have liked to get a sub 3hr time and certain that I could if I stayed injury free, but I think the amount of effort that needs to be put in to running a marathon is a lot more than I ever expected. I think I will let someone else have a go next year, I can think of a few likely candidates to put forward..........but never, say never!

Mat

PS,
I will put some pics up when I get them as further proof of my ordeal (Ive not seen any yet but I will be very surprised if I'm smiling on any!)

15/04/08 UPDATE:
I’ve been told that the money raised will pay for around 40 nursing hours. This could help one person or several people but either way they and their family will be eternally grateful for the support of a Marie Curie Cancer Care nurse at such a dark time in their life.Once again a big Thank You to everyone who sponsored me, because of your donations, tonight there will be a Marie Curie Cancer Care nurse going to the home of cancer patient to look after someone in the familiarity of their own home with their friends and family around them. All this is provided free of charge thanks to the money raised.

London Marathon 08

OK, I'm trying to raise as much as I can for charity. I feel like Ive done quite a few charity events over the past year or so, either the Great North Run or various charity events for Water Aid with work & I imagine most people are getting fed up with being asked for sponsorship (or at least some people probably think that its all fun and they are footing the bill for my enjoyment.)

So, I figure that the best way is to show everyone the pain I'm going to go through to get my ass round the 26.2 mile course in as fast a time as possible. Ive never done a marathon before, only a few half marathons which I managed to come through unscathed (relatively - except the last one where I had man flu the week before & felt like I was going to die when I finished - I think the picture says it all)!

Anyway, in order for me to show you all the pain that my brain & knees must go through I thought that I would start a training blog telling everyone the training I have been doing each week. I'm also hoping it will make me stick to the training and not just stay in bed every morning when I need to get up & run in the wind & rain. The other potential bonus for doing this training blog is hopefully it makes some of you feel guilty and lets me feel smug about myself.....and suddenly it all feels worthwhile :)

So...if your reading this, please visit www.justgiving.com/matspage and sponsor me! All money is going to Marie Curie Cancer Care, a very worthy cause. In short:

Marie Curie Cancer Care provides high quality nursing totally free, to give terminally ill people the choice of dying at home supported by their families. Your local Marie Curie Hospice actively promotes quality of life for people with cancer and provides support for their families. The services are completely free to patients. World class scientists at the Marie Curie Research Institute are investigating how cancer develops to find better ways of treating the disease in the future. That's the brief overview but obviously for more info visit www.mariecurie.org.uk (Charity Registration No 207994)

Feel free to add comments or replies (especially if you don't think I'm pulling my weight), although I may just force you to come on a run with me if you do ;)

Saturday, March 1, 2008

42 Days to go & Counting!

42 days to go - I cant tell you how glad I will be when its over! Managed 50 miles this week.

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 10 mile early morning run at a slow pace - wet and windy again!

Wednesday: 10 x Yasoo 800m's at 2:45 pace. (800m in 2:45 with 2:45 rest, ten times) - ouch.

Thursday: Easy 10k run followed by footy training

Friday: 3 mile jog but a sore knee meant I had to stop.

Saturday: Footy

Sunday: Finally some sunshine for my 20 mile run. I was joined by Alex & Dan on bikes and things didn't go according to plan when the first 30 min's were spent on the driveway trying to fix the flat tyre on Dan's bike, then 2 miles into the run his pedal fell off!

Another 10 min's were spent with me Alex & Dan trying vigorously to reattach the pedal in between fits of laughter. Finally we managed it, only to find that we had bolted it on the wrong way round so both pedals were facing downwards. Another ten min's were spent laughing & trying to take off the pedal again & just when Dan has knocked on someones door to ask to borrow a hammer, we managed it. About an hour behind schedule, we continued the run, luckily without any more incident!

http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-kingdom/cuerdon/338031179