All posts tagged: marathon

Why running a marathon is a team event

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Marathon number six is only five weeks away for me now and it will be swiftly followed by number seven, five weeks after that. What I’ve learnt from my past marathons and current training is that me running a marathon is NOT just about me. Yes, I’m the one who has to put one foot in front of the other but this wouldn’t be possible without an enormous number of other people. It really is a team event. Here are some of the members of my team and how they’re helping me. I really wanted to give them a shout out and thank them because without them I wouldn’t be able to do this.

Kathrine Switzer Dr Juliet McGrattan

How to run two marathons, 50 years apart, with tips from Kathrine Switzer.

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On 17th April 2017 a special moment in history will be made. Kathrine Switzer will line up on the Boston Marathon start line with a bib number pinned onto her front. The same start line she stood on 50 years before in 1967. In that famous race, the race official tried to manhandle her off the course, simply because she was a woman. She ran on to the finish and began devoting her life to being an advocate for women in sport.

VLM 2015

Marathon Know-How

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If you’ve never run a marathon before but thought that one day you might like to, now’s the time of year that’ll awaken those desires. With Manchester, Brighton, Boston and London in quick succession (and others too!) marathon fever is at its peak. It’s hard not to get caught up in it and before you know it you’ll have your name down for next year!

Looking back at 2015 and drooling with excitement at 2016!

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I’m keen on self-reflection. I wrote a diary for years as a child and I dip in again from time to time now.  I find it very therapeutic and I just LOVE reading it back. It helps me to be grateful for all I have and to set targets for the year ahead. It’s amazing how much you forget, even in the space of a year. I guess blogging and vlogging kind of replaces a diary in some ways but I’ll still be making my yearly entry looking back on the year I’ve had and making plans for 2016.

Shona Thomson running marathon

I chatted to … Shona Thomson; marathon runner and adventurer. 

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I’ve run marathons in London and Mallorca and been frantically searching the internet for other interesting places to run one. Paris, New York, Boston…..my list is endless.  I was really excited to meet Shona Thomson who’s taken this desire to another level. She’s one of 3 British women to run a marathon on all of the world’s seven continents and then she added one at the North Pole for good measure! I’m intrigued by (and slightly jealous of) strong women with the guts to take on challenges like these. I was also interested to find out why and how she left her job as a city banker to follow her running dreams and use her time to help and inspire others to become and stay active. Speaker, trainer, mentor and adventurer; a woman after my own heart and it was a pleasure to chat to her.

Blues guitar marathon

Beware the post-marathon blues 

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Forgive me for sounding just a little negative amongst all the excitement but I just want to bring up a rarely spoken about topic. Something that might be unexpected and out of character and could catch you unawares. If you’ve had a little warning you can stop this pesky thing in its tracks so let’s just take a bit of time to discuss it, after all being forewarned is being forearmed.

Aim High, basket ball net

Aiming high: double marathon challenge update

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So, the enormity of my double marathon challenge is starting to hit home. As I was struggling for energy in the latter stages of the 261 Women’s Marathon in Mallorca I was searching for positive thoughts to banish all the negative ones that kept popping into my head. At one point I was thinking, “Keep going, you never have to do this again”, that seemed to help until it dawned on me that I would in fact be repeating the ordeal in 7 weeks time.