Dairy of a London Marathon Runner - Part 3: 11 weeks down, five to go

Since the Brighton half marathon three weeks ago, training has been turned up a notch. One week on from the Brighton half marathon I upped my longest ever run distance by 5.6 miles, from 13.3 to 18.9 miles!

You can read parts 1 and 2 of my training blog here and here.

The first six miles weren’t too bad, which I ran solo starting at 6.15am. After nearly completing a loop of Billingshurst Jubilee fields around mile five, I caught my toe on a decent sized stone wedged in the ground, and went down like a sack of spuds! Luckily I managed to commando roll the fall relatively well, so didn’t do too much damage and there was no one in sight to laugh at my misfortune either! Muddying my white trainers saddened me though.

I met up with fellow Billingshurst runners, Sam and Tracy, shortly after the tumble to run the remaining 13 miles. Miles 6-14 weren’t too bad as I’d run near enough that distance three times, but the last five miles were brutal and required a lot of determination! The lungs felt fine, but the legs were running on fumes despite the intake of energy gels and bars. Sam and Tracy kept my spirits high though, giving me constant support, and with the tunes pumping from Sam’s boombox we pushed hard to get back to Billingshurst. Thank you so much both, couldn’t have done it without you!

That run certainly took it out of me as I spent most of the afternoon sleeping as a result, but I was so happy in the knowledge that I was now only 1 mile away from my max training distance of 20 miles.

It took my legs a while to recover from Sunday’s run, and I didn’t end up running again until the Thursday. I ran again on the Friday, before then flying to Cape Town for a week’s holiday. I brought my running shoes with me and managed a 14 mile run early on the Sunday (12th March) morning. It was great to run somewhere a little warmer, amazing to run along the coast as the sun was rising, and was a really good way to explore part of Cape Town. I only managed one more run on holiday, as I suffered from a minor stomach upset the majority of the week and decided it was best to rest and enjoy the holiday instead!

We landed back in England 6am on Sunday 19th. Soon after the 11 hour flight, the running shoes were back on, as I was determined to get in the scheduled 19 mile long run before Mother’s Day lunch. I was a bit naïve in my choice of route, deciding to run along the Downs Link, which was much muddier than I’d expected!

I started running from the Bax Castle at Barns Green, and got just shy of Cranleigh, 9.5 miles away, before heading back to the car to complete the 19 miles. Miles 7-12 were extremely tough and really took it out of me due to some significant hills around Rudgwick, coupled with the worst of the puddles and mud being in that middle section. I had to walk part of the hill section as it was too steep and slippery, but dug deep and managed to run the rest of the distance.

Those last seven miles took a lot of grit and determination, but I just kept thinking about Dad, all the support I’ve had from so many people and that’s why I signed up to run the marathon for St Catherine’s in the first place. With about 2.5 miles left I passed another runner on the Downs Link, who could see I was struggling, and said “keep going, you’re doing great”. Whoever that was, thank you for your kind words, that gave me a great boost.

Fundraising is still going really well too, and I’m close to raising the minimum amount I need to run the marathon, with £1,925 raised to date. I’ve been blown away by the level of donations I’ve received so far! It gives me so much motivation to get out there out there to train, when I’d rather be in bed, and to keep going in those dark moments when I’m close to my threshold and want to give in.

11 weeks of training down, five weeks to go until the London Marathon!

If you’d like to sponsor me, and raise money for St Catherine’s you can do so on the following link: https://2023tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/chris-francis