Zoe’s Double Marathon Challenge for Charity

Not long to go now before I need to get serious about training.  I went for a 16km run today, my last for 2008.  Tomorrow I jet off to China for Christmas and New Year, so when I get back, it is time to knuckle down.

I am getting a few niggles that are starting to be worrisome. I have arrange to meet with a sports therapist my first week back and I think if I am going to survive a double marathon injury free, I will have to schedule some very regular visits.

I’ve been researching costumes too…but it is awfully hard to find something unusual and easy to run in. I really like the idea of running as a Ginger Bread Man, with a sign ‘Run, Run, Run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the Ginger Bread Man!’ But the head pieces for this costume are not any good for being able to drink water while on the run.  Hehehe, I keep having these visions of me training in the gym in full costume, as they say never run in anything on marathon day that you have never tried before.  What a scream that would be!

Merry Christmas!

Within the period of exactly 14 days, I have not only achieved my original fundraising target of £2,500…but it has been exceeded!

My current fundraising total is £2,662.50!!!

Incredible. I am blown away by the amount of support received…thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!! As a result, I have now increased the fundraising target to £4,000.

Wow, what a week!! Despite resting from training to recover from shin splints, the marathon was still very much on my mind. This was the week I held two Christmas Charity Raffles…and what a success!!

With prizes donated from Marks & Spencer, Sun Chemical and BATS Trading, all money raised from the purchase of raffle tickets went directly into my sponsorship and to my chosen charity Sense. We raised a spectacular £515.46 at the BATS Christmas party on Thursday night and a fabulous £308 at Sun Chemical on Friday.

I owe a huge THANK YOU to Mary Wilkinson (BATS) and Elizabeth Vass (Sun Chemical) for all their support throughout these raffles. Additionally, thank you to everyone who supported my raffle and purchased tickets too!!!

After my fabulous run in Hyde Park last Sunday, it seems I picked up a slight case of shin splints. It makes sense; I ran too hard and too fast…all too soon. I need to slow down and build up the mileage gradually. So I went for a easy recovery run on Monday, but the shins were very tender and as a result, I decided to spend the rest of the week resting to allow the muscles to recover.

Resting paid off, my shins are now fully recovered and I went for a great 15km run today. This time I made sure it was an easy pace (6min/km) and came away feeling great. It is also a big achievement mentally, as being able to run a third of a marathon distance now before I have even begun a proper training plan, gives me confidence in my ability to carry out this challenge.

My training is finally starting to take shape…I worked out it was three months ago I started returning to the gym for three sessions a week and it has only been in the last couple of weeks I’ve (finally) started seeing a definite improvement.  That’s good, because it is not long now before I must start a marathon training schedule.

My fundrasing is in full swing and I have confirmed two more Charity Christmas Raffles next week.  I’ve spent the last week stressing about raffle prizes as many local businesses I have approached are unable to help. I am going to make stretch the Marks & Spencer vouchers and put together a couple of creative food hampers - so now you know how I’ll be spending my weekend!

Oh yes, and lastly I will be meeting Ben tonight - a fellow Sense fundraiser who is also running the London Marathon in April. Maybe together we will come up with some great ideas :o)  Plus we get to eat Pizza!!!

Brett Lawrence (Pressgang Chairman) and Colin Colverd (Pressgang Secretary) kindly offered to support me in my challenge at this year’s Pressgang Christmas Lunch, with all proceeds from the charity raffle being donated to Sense.  It was a huge success and we raised a whopping £1,565!!! 

Thank you to Pressgang & all the members who attended an supported me.  Oh, and in case you are wondering…YES, that is me in the orange wig on the business card you recieved :o)