The Road to London: A solo pursuit with a large supporting cast

But, considering I could gather up all the readers of this comment/blog, drive them up to Scotland and invite a further 400 people without it being considered a mass gathering, I think I am safe enough to proceed.

A large part of writing this anyway was to be able to look back on it in years to come and relive the build-up to my first London Marathon. It’s primarily a selfish endeavour, with the newspaper/website element only thrown in to keep me motivated and give me a structure of sorts.

And lets face it, the training aspect is purely selfish. I’m not running London for a charity or to inspire others, I’m running it to get under three hours. Just so I can tell everyone that will listen (and most that will not) that I am a sub-3hr marathon runner.

However, while my focus is entirely on me, I’m not entirely blinkered to the support network which allows me to pursue my (lets face it, pretty arbitrary) dream.

From Keri, who allows me the time to head out the door five days a week and Iris who lets me hunker down on the sofa in front of Fireman Sam rather than head to the park to Les Barnett who meticulously crafts my training plan and devotes his Tuesday nights to standing in the cold armed with a stopwatch and steady stream of terrible jokes.

That’s not to mention the training partners who keep me motivated on the speed sessions, long ‘school night’ runs and even longer weekend jaunts.

We may only communicate in grunts and nods but when we come together, my goal is also their goal: to get the session done.

And this week, with their help, I have had what I would consider my best ever training week.

Certainly in terms of mileage - 33 over the weekend - and quality work.

It goes to show that while social distancing may be the key to flattening the curve when it comes to coronavirus, being part of a collective is so much more effective when it comes to long distancing.

Completed training:

Saturday: 22 miles at 7:53

Sunday: 11 miles including 5 @ 6:50

Tuesday: 1.5 mile warm-up, 3x4, 2x5, 1x6, 2x5, 3x4, 4x3 and 1.5 mile warm-down

Wednesday: 14 @ 7:43

Thursday: 4 miles floating, 10 min @ 6:50, 1 mile warm-down

Imodium usage (running total): Losing count but two more tablets and one more fail than last week