3 Months 27 Days 9 hours 57 Minutes

Ok here's the first training update.

Training has been delayed for the first month since I found out I had the opportunity to take part in the London Marathon, unfortunately I got a cold on my chest which meant I couldn't really do too much. Having said that two days of solid christmas shopping started to build my stamina up!!

I was lucky enough to spend Christmas Day and Boxing Day with a 3 time Veteran London Marathon runner who has given me some great advice and support. His advice was to plan to train to finish the marathon and enjoy the experience rather than trying to run for a time, especially as I have such little time to prepare and am a bit on the chunky side!!! The plan is to do two one hour sessions with fast walking/light jogging a week, walk to and from work one day a week and then walk solidly at pace for four hours on a Sunday, increasing this time over the training period.

So with that in mind, I went for my first fast walk this evening, I intended to walk about 2 1/2 miles to break me in gently, I also planned to walk a fairly level route. So plugged into my Ipod listening to the Matt Taylor Band (www.matttaylorband.com) I set off and within 15 minutes got myself completely lost in my own home town!! I found hills and streets in Saltash I didn't know existed and managed to walk just over 3 miles all at quite a fast pace thanks to couple of Matts faster tracks.

I got home warm and breathing quite heavily but generally feeling ok, there is one issue with training from home, I live on top of a hill, so the last leg is always uphill which ever way you go.

Any way better go and set up the donations account now, I guess I will train again tomorrow and then the walk to work and back on Friday!!! (5 miles each way not a flat bit on route!!) Look in on Saturday to see how I get on.

Other things to look forward to - Fundraising launch night - Karaoke night in Plymouth with a draw, venue and dates to be confirmed very soon.

Cheers
Snooky

Introduction to Snooky's Marathon Blogg

Hi all, Mike Snook here.

So who am I and why am I participating in the London Marathon? Questions I have asked myself everyday since I got the Email from Katherine Harrison from the FSI advising me I was the "Lucky" person to represent the FSI in the London Marathon next year..... 2009!!!

Well I'm Mike Snook and I am a 42 year old Customer Service and Admin Manager for A4e Pathways looking after Devon & Cornwall. I am a former National Slimming World Slimmer of the Year Runner Up who managed lose 11 1/2 stone over 3 years and managed to maintain for a further 3 years, unfortunately I've piled some of the pounds back on over the last couple years and needed a focus to get myself back on track, so when I saw the opportunity to participate in the London Marathon I put in my bid and was very shocked to get the email saying I was the lucky one!!

So who am I running for? The FSI (Foundation for Social Improvement) (http://www.thefsi.org/). The FSI are all about helping smaller charities to help themselves. The charity was formed after Emma Harrison took part in the Secret Millionaire on Channel Four, having donated money to a number of people in Dagenham, she thought about where they would be once the money was spent and felt it would be better to be able to support the smaller charities to help themselves by providing training, advice, seminars. Or as Emma Harrison said recently "we don't give them the fish we provide them with the fishing line and teach them how to fish".

So what's the blog going to be about, well I will be sharing my training experience with those interested in supporting me with this immense challenge.