2nd October 2021

My Maiden Marathon

And very likely my last!

I had planned to go to the Czech republic with a girl friend for a long weekend but I had to cancel due to work commitments. I then volunteered to help with boat maintenance at my local costal rowing club, but they cancelled it last night due to the Great British weather. I then found myself with two rather empty two days ahead of me, of course the good amongst you would have cleaned the house from top to bottom, but I’m ashamed to say that wasn’t my first thought!

Once I realised that the London Marathon was being run on Sunday (tomorrow), I immediately decided I was going to join in. I’ve always loved following it, and have admired my friends who’ve completed it. I’m not a runner, I injured my foot training for a 10K once and then hung my running shoes up (actually they weren’t running shoes, probably part of the reason I got the injury.) Anyway, that was along time ago, about 12 years I think, so I can’t really use it as an excuse. So I’m going run on my machine on a virtual course alongside the real thing. It’s 42.195 kilometers and I’ve worked out its 58,266 strides – a lot!

I’ll be watching the race live from my laptop which sits nicely on the cross trainer screen in front of me. My plan is to do 3 hours and have a break, the same as I did on Roxy in the ocean, and then another 3 hours once I’ve had a rest and something to eat.

I haven’t really done any specific training and I thought today was probably a bit late to start, but hopefully my endurance from the Atlantic row will still be there. But it’s going to be tough, I know that.

If you can, please donate to The Maiden Factor and help to make my effort worthwhile, I really appreciate your generosity and kindness. The Foundation supports girl’s education worldwide, this is needed now more than ever.

Thank you so much for reading this. Much love Louise xxx