In happier news!

I didn’t want to bring down positive news with my gloomy training run report, so here’s a separate post. Today I received my number for the London Marathon, along with my copy of Marathon News.

I have quite an “exciting” number of 36336 which I will probably forget, but it’s not that important I remember it as I’ll be wearing it. Combined with my neon yellow Miscarriage Association vest (with my name and URL on it!) you won’t be able to miss me if you’re watching on TV or at the sidelines! I’ll take a photo of me in it nearer the time so you can see.

I’ll be starting from the Red Start which is the one closest to Maze Hill station, along with all the other Golden Bond runners like me. So just a short very steep walk through Greenwich Park to the start.

As promised, I’ll try to keep my Twitter feed updated on the way round but there are Warnings that the mobile network likes collapsing so you can fully expect to think I’ve dropped dead at mile 20 and won’t hear any different until I’m well out of the area and you’ve forgotten all about me There is a tracking system provided by the marathon that reports on every 5K I’ve completed but by all accounts last year it wasn’t very reliable.

I’m hoping to have a quiet celebration (or commiseration!) in a local pub in the evening – if people are interested, please contact me for details as for obvious reasons (the trolls last week notwithstanding) I don’t fancy publicising my whereabouts on a public site!

And finally, a huge thank you to Hazel, my mum, Jamie, Zara and the boys, Meg, Tarah & Dan and finally (for the second time!) Jacqui for your extremely generous sponsorship. It is so appreciated – without you all sponsoring me, this training and the race itself would not be nearly so meaningful. And also I suspect that if it wasn’t for you all sponsoring me I’d have dropped out a long time ago!

I’m now just over £200 short of my £1300 target – any little that anyone can give at this point will take me that much closer to the final target! I would *love* to exceed the target, mainly because the Miscarriage Association has a shortfall this coming year with its budget, and given marathon sponsorship from its 27 runners accounts for over a quarter of that budget, you can see what a difference it makes. It’s not just swallowed up with marketing and bureaucracy like so many of the bigger charities. Which is one of the main reasons I chose to run for them aside from it being a cause close to my heart – I want to feel less bad about asking people for sponsorship because their money will go so much further than a lot of causes. So many people have been touched by miscarriage, and in many cases helped by this charity and you may not even know because miscarriage is so taboo. Goodness knows parents in this situation need all the support they can get if they want it.

Most of the people I’d hoped would donate have done so now, so I guess I am counting on the kindness of strangers, or near strangers. I hate asking for sponsorship but unfortunately one does have to be a bit cheeky about these things, especially with a month to go. So my JustGiving Page is here. If you haven’t already given and are intending to, now is the time pretty much – help me get through my final stupidly long run in just over a week!

And as always, please DO spread the word..

Anyway, the darned marathon thingy itself is a month tomorrow….. eek.

Coming up on Sunday: Silverstone Half Marathon

Yes, whilst the rest of the world watches F1 cars scream around a racing track for the first time this year, I’m going to be running a race for the first time this year – around an F1 racing track at a rather more sedate speed. Fortunately, the two events are not at the same F1 racing track or it would get messy.

It’s my first ever half marathon event, and in fact my first race since my ill-fated 10K that brought on pneumonia back in mid November. 4 months to the day actually. Fortunately for this weekend I (touch wood) feel no signs of cough although I do have a slightly runny nose. Nevertheless, my health is reasonable. My neck is quite a bit better. My knees, less so, but I guess we shall see – they seem to be improving and I honestly think taking these last two weeks off was the Right Thing to Do. Hopefully the damaged muscle (or whatever) has repaired itself stronger than before, much as it did last time.

13.1 miles is a long way to run, make no mistake. Thankfully I know I can run 13.1 miles, having done it twice in training two and three weeks ago respectively. I also know that I feel just about dead by the end of it. I read somewhere that a half marathon is about three-quarters of the effort of a full marathon, given you have to run it a little faster. Let’s hope so!

The race starts at 12pm GMT. I am intending to finish in under 2.5 hours but we shall see. I was on course for 2hr15 minutes before I caught pneumonia but there’s not a hope I could do that now.

Unlike every other race I’ve done, this one is going to be interactive! Well, it’s going to be a test run for the main event itself (just over six weeks away now.. eek) in terms of keeping y’all updated and vice-versa. Yes, I’m going to be tweeting my way round.

But it’s more than just a few updates here and there – I’ve found an application that will upload my Google Maps location and any photos I wish to take! So not only will you get my exact location, but sometimes I’ll stick up a photo as well. I’ll also be able to read any encouragement you want to fire back at me via Twitter too.

I’ve no idea how well this is going to work, so basically this Silverstone half marathon is my trial run for the London marathon in terms of technology. It should give me a better idea over what will be realistic on the day!

If you want to follow me/encourage me, please follow/message my “barnpops_run” twitter feed. For the main marathon I’ll be using my usual “barnpops” twitter feed but as this is more of a test, I’m using a second account in case it all goes horribly wrong!

So, 46 hours to go before the half marathon.. and I have two photoshoots before then too! We’re staying in a hotel nearby the night before so hopefully the morning will be nice and simple.

In other news, a massive thank you to Lucy, Bic and Jo & Paddy for your generous sponsorship! I am getting closer and closer all the time – 73% of the way there now. I’m hoping I can break the £1,000 barrier with a month to go, but we shall see!