Is your training underway?
For those who have been lucky enough to be successful in securing one of the Virgin Money London Marathon ballot places this year will already be in the midst of their Marathon Training, whilst i’m sure, secretly hoping that this year’s only broken record will be the volume of personal bests, and not soaring temperatures of 24oc, as recorded in 2018!
Resident organisation London Sport have chosen 5 runners for the Virgin Money London Marathon to build on last year’s fundraising success which raised £10,000 to kick-start a first of it’s kind sport-specific ‘Leadership Academy Sports Programme’ for deaf and disabled people, in collaboration with Disability Rights UK.
Katie Light is one of the 5 lucky runners chosen to run for London Sport for 2019 and has shared with us her thoughts and feelings around her preparation for her first ever marathon!
About you
My name is Katie and I‘m a student from Brunel University studying Sport, Health and Exercise Science and am currently on my placement year at London Sport. In my spare time (when I’m not running now!) I love to be outdoors and travel to new places to explore.
What is your background in running?
I don’t have a huge background in running, having only recently got into it as a way of pushing myself. In the last few years I have ran three half marathons, a few 10k events as well as my local parkruns. A marathon is the next step for me and is a very daunting (yet exciting!) one.
How have you found the first few months of training?
It’s been great to get going. At first it was tough to get into the mindset of running four times a week. I did start to think at the end of my first week that the next four months would just be spent with constantly aching legs! I’m glad to say my legs have started to adjust and I am loving seeing the effects of training already; my times have got quicker and I generally feel a lot better at the end of my runs than I did before.
What has been one of the toughest challenges you’ve faced so far?
I think the biggest challenge so far has been fitting in my runs around working 9-5 in the city. I’m not a massive fan of running at lunch, so trying to fit in runs in the morning or when I get home is tough in the winter, especially when it’s dark. I do think I’m secretly starting to enjoy that challenge though!
I’ve also found out that how I run has actually been causing me to experience shin splints, so I’m having to adapt the way I run. That’s proving to be a big challenge, but it’s one that takes my attention away from how out of breath I am when running. Every cloud…
What have you learnt so far?
Something I have learnt from running over the past few years is that the running community is fantastic. It doesn’t matter who you are, what time you run, where you come from, everyone gets behind everyone and that is something truly unique. If you don’t believe me then get yourself down to your local park run and see it for yourself!
What are you most looking forward to?
Apart from the day itself (obviously!), I’m really looking forward to the second half of the training plan. As it gets closer to the day and the fundraising events I’m planning start happening and falling into place, but also to see the extent of the results from the training. I’ve never followed a training plan before and I’m really excited to see just how far I can push myself in the next few months, and how much of an impact this will have on my mental and physical wellbeing. In some ways, I want April to come really quickly so I can experience the day, but I’m also really enjoying this journey I’ve just embarked on and I’m really looking forward to see where the next few months take me!
You can support Katie, and by extension the ‘Leadership Academy Sports Programme’ for deaf and disabled people, in her fundraising activities by visiting her page here.
