1. Have you run any marathons before?
No I haven’t. I have run 2 half marathons, the Silverstone Half Marathon 3 years ago and then the Reading Half Marathon last year. I have also run the Great South Run for the last 3 years (10 miles). I have always said that you have to be a freak of nature to complete a full Marathon and that I could never do it.
2. What made you want to run?
I watched it on the TV last year, got caught up in the moment and said to my wife it would be fantastic to do it this year as it will be just after my 40th Birthday and with the Olympics being held in London this year, the atmosphere would be amazing. At the time I decided not to enter as we are away in Florida for the 2 weeks leading up to it, so felt it might be too difficult to get the training done.
3. Why did you choose to run for Lattitude?
I’m the manager of Barclays Bank in Reading and for several years we have worked closely with Lattitude to provide the volunteers with banking facilities when they arrive in the UK. I received a letter from Lattitide last year looking for volunteers to run the Brighton Marathon but this clashed with the Reading Half Marathon so we couldn’t help. This year the letter arrived offering the opportunity to run the London Marathon, and I just had to do it!
4. How is the training going?
Training is starting to step up now. Since entering I have been doing little bits each week to try and build my fitness, mainly in the gym and a few small road runs, but over Christmas and into the New Year, I’m working closely to a plan to make sure I’m fit and strong enough to finish. Yesterday I ran 14.5 miles which is the furthest I have ever managed.
5. Have you got a target time? (Or would you rather see how it goes?)
I’m pretty slow, the last half marathon was 2 hours 10 minutes, so I think it will take me somewhere close to 5 hours. As long as I finish, and manage to run the full distance I will be happy. Any time under 5 hours will be a bonus.
6. How is the sponsorship going?
Barclays has agreed to match fund raising up to £750.00 One of my colleagues, Justin, is also running so between us Barclays will match £1500.00 we would love to raise somewhere between £2,000 and £3,000 including the matched fundraising from the bank, but we will have to see.
7. Have you done anything interesting to raise awareness or done any other sort of fundraising?
Now that Christmas is out the way, we are looking to step up interest; we have a few ideas depending on how hard it is to raise the money.
Tags: charity, fundraising, Marathon, running
