Marathon Task

In the news today we found out that Jordan's running the London marathon. Good on her. She's raising money for a charity she's a patron of called Vision. Hope she's got a decent sports bra!

Maybe like me she was inspired by the pictures on tv of the marathon this year. Just thousands and thousands of people pounding through the streets, all raising money for good causes, all with a story to tell about why they were doing it. I loved it. And that music they put under the montages...spine-tingling stuff.

So I decided that next year I want to run the marathon. And this wasn't just a whim, I applied a few months ago, and found out this week that I've been offered a place. Brilliant!

You might think that anyone who wants to tackle the 26 mile run round London can just put their name down, and come next April, take to the start line with thousands of other runners.

But it's just not that easy. First off all you can enter the free ballot. The marathon organisers have a certain amount of places they just give away to people, but it's massively oversubscribed and it's basically just the luck of the draw.

If you don't get that (and I think you've got to have been rejected by them 5 times before you're guaranteed a place) you can choose a charity to run for.

But charities only have a certain number of places they can give away too. So you need to fill out an application form and keep your fingers crossed.

Well this week I found out I've been selected to run for Capital 95.8's charity Help A London Child. Which is great news. To put it into context, they've had over 300 people apply, and have only got 30-odd places to give away.

Now though the reality is hitting me. I've got to run for 26 miles. Or at my pace, around 4 and a half hours. Non-stop (or my pride will be dented).

That's half of my working day - it's like coming into work and just running on the spot until lunchtime.

Or running through 2 and a half football matches.

Or 9 episodes of Friends back to back.

Or the time it takes a train to get from London to Edinburgh.

Or watching the first 2 films in the Bourne Identity trilogy - plus all the DVD extras.

So quite a long time.

It's also quite daunting thinking about all the training I'm going to have put in over the next 8 months.

A friend of mine ran a marathon recently - and he was just so dedicated to it that his social life was put on hold in the run-up to the race. He just stopped coming out as much. Fridays were a no-no if he had a training run scheduled for Saturday morning. And booze was a thing of the past.

I have to admit I admire his commitment. And I just hope I've got the mental strength, as well as the physical strength, to say no to that glass of wine, or heave myself out of bed to go running in the rain before work.

That's the other thing about the marathon - it's in April - which means all the training you do will be when the weather's wet and cold. Uptil now I've been a bit of a fair weather jogger. I've done the Race For Life a couple of times, but obviously the route's a lot shorter, and it's always in the summer. Running round Battersea Park when it's sunny is no problem.

But there are 2 things that I reckon will inspire me to complete the training, and complete the marathon.

One - all my friends will be along the side of the track cheering me on, or laughing at me if I don't make it.

Two - there's going to be a lot of money resting on me getting round. And I don't want to let down all the children I'm running for, and all the people who'll sponsor me.

I chose Help A London Child because it's a charity that I already feel I've become involved with, and I believe does really good work around the capital. I've visited some of the projects the charity funds, and seen first hand what a difference the money people donate can make to children across London.

And I've also been involved in Capital 95.8s huge Help a London Child appeal - with all the celebs supporting the cause - and all the people the money helps coming in to say thank you. It's a really moving day.

So roll on April 26th 2009. As long as I don't do a Jade Goody (have a training diet of takeaways and beer), or Paula Radcliffe (come on we all know what she did) I should be OK...