And he's off...

The good news is the leg is much better, the bad news is it's not good enough to run on yet. However I have managed to "procure" a decent exercise bike from friends Pat & Nic who are moving to Cambridge - cheers guys, so the cycling has now started and it hurts. I'll get home tonight help Sharon get George and Claudia to sleep then it's off to the shed/gym/office for one hours cycling and some upper body weights. I'm around the same weight as when I started training for the last marathon unfortunately I think a lot of the leg muscle has dissappeared and reappeared as a layer of fat around my stomach. This means as well as training I am now starting a healthy(ish) eating plan and cutting down on drinking. Now I remember why I said I'd never do another marathon!

Training has started......nearly

Right, I have my marathon place, I have my running kit, I have my blog, my JustGiving site, I have my motivation........

.......and I have an injury.
About 2 weeks ago my left leg swelled adly above the knee, after a visit to the GP, a visit to A&E and several needles in my leg the swelling has gone but the knee is still slightly painful. I have a physio session tomorrow and hope to go out for my first official "training" run on Sunday. Last year I picked up injuries toward the end of training and ended up running with a stress fracture. This year I am being clever - going to have all my injuries now! Hopefully my next post will be describing how the training run was a piece of cake and I feel great.

The man from FLM he says....

Last Thursday the doorbell rang and the postman handed me a package. It contained a rejection letter from FLM and the consolation Fleece of Failure. So my only option was a charity place like last year but I wanted a charity that I had a link to not just a large charity that afforded lots of places. Then it came to me, last year my friend Pat-Rick had mentioned a charity he was associated with - BabyLifeline, a unique national charity offering loving care and support to pregnant mothers and new born babies all over the UK. Unfortunately BabyLifeline was not successful in receiving any marathon places. I mailed BabyLifeline's founder and enquired whether there were places this year - after a 15 year wait the charity had finally been successful and had received 5 places. I have now reserved one of those places. My motivation is higher than last year even, I am now running for a charity that really needs funds, one that I can really support (particularly as we have a 9 week old baby - the gorgeous Claudia) and one that I have a personal connection with. Let the training commence.