Within minutes of crossing the finish line of my first ever marathon, I said to my husband, ‘I’m never doing that again!’ and in that moment, I truly thought that London 2017 would be my first and last marathon.
One year later and I am about to embark upon my twenty week training program, to complete the Berlin marathon in September. So what’s changed? Why I am taking on another marathon.
Well, firstly it’s because I love running and when I’m training for a race, I’m much more consistent with my running and it gives me an extra bit of motivation get up out of bed and lace up. Secondly, I never want to get bored of running the same five mile route around my house. Training for a marathon last year forced me to find new places to run, it brought new friends into my life, and it showed me that I can be incredibly self disciplined. I surprised myself, I never knew how focused I could be.
I really enjoyed the structure of following a training plan. It was the first time in my life that I’ve ever trained specifically for endurance. Previously, I’d always done a mixture of 5-10K road running, HIIT, a bit of yoga and whatever else I fancied. Training with a plan was very satisfying as I can see clear progress week to week.