Remembering personal goals at ballot time
Our weekly round-up includes our chat with Running Punk Colin McCord
After spending Sunday watching Michelle absolutely loving her eighteenth marathon - her first London Marathon - I had no choice but to enter the ballot for 2024.
I sometimes feel I’m not achieving anything with my running, which is blatantly untrue when the bottom line is to be fitter physically and mentally, and when I don’t run both those aspects suffer.
And even more so when I remember that it is less than a year ago that I was rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack that turned out to be pericarditis, and prevented me running at all for three months.
Even then I have got goals - which I forget I’m on course to achieve this year. Writing them down now may just help me remember them…
➡️ Running 2,023 miles this year with my good friend Patrick Howard - we’re nicely on course for this and the 473 miles I’ve run so far this year is easily the most I’ve ever done in a four month period.
➡️ Run for six hours to raise money for rough sleepers - well, it’s in just over four weeks so fingers crossed 🤞
➡️ Run in the Great North Run (cancelled last year due to pericarditis)
So, all in all, not so bad - but hey, London Marathon 2024.
Maybe baby!
Happy running,
Craig
This week on…
The podcast:
This week on the Running Tales Podcast we spoke to Colin McCord, who on Sunday completed his fourth marathon in as many weeks when he finished the famous London race.
Running Punk Colin is aiming to finish five in five next weekend.
With the Great Welsh, Magna Carta and Manchester Marathons also behind him, Colin will complete his challenge next week by taking on the 26.2-mile distance for one final time in April - only his opponent then will be the dreaded treadmill!
Colin is taking on this very personal challenge to raise money for Dementia UK. His mum, Susan, was diagnosed with mixed dementia in 2018 and Colin is fundraising to help Dementia UK provide information, support and Admiral Nurses to those with dementia and their families.
Running Tales also spoke to Colin about how running has helped him cope with PTSD, something he has suffered with as the result of a traumatic robbery.
Substack:
Our pre-London Marathon article on why loving every run doesn’t require a ballot looked at the various challenges runners take on - including the big one itself.
We also shared five huge benefits of the sport, from stimulating bone formation to lowering blood sugar levels.
You can read the article by clicking the link below:
We also took a look at how running and charity fundraising go hand-in-hand, paying close attention to the incredible efforts of marathon man Gary McKee, Parkinson UK’s Chair of the Board of Trustees Gary Shaughnessy, and Leeds Rhino’s star turned MND fundraiser-in-chief Kevin Sinfield.
From racing rhinos to colourful tops featuring everything from household name charities to the faces of lost loved ones, there is no escaping the power of charity at the London Marathon.
Yesterday’s event was no different with thousands of runners pounding the streets of the capital to raise millions of pounds.
Earlier this month, it was revealed that the 2022 event raised more than £58m for charity - the highest amount since a record-breaking £66.4m was raised in 2019.
You can catch up with that story here:
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