I’m running out of time

If anyone tells you that running a marathon should take you no longer than five hours, don’t believe them.

A marathon is a thief of time. At first when you are unfit and struggling to get into shape, time isn’t an issue. Even the biggest jellymonster can conquer a one mile run in a quarter of an hour or less.

The problem comes as you become fitter and the distances become longer. After three weeks pretty concentrated training I am now up to eight miles but the downside being that each run takes around an hour and twenty minutes and I am trying to run at least four times a week, plus swimming, cycling and the odd game of five-a-side  football.

Adding all this up means I am spending about 10 hours a week on physical exercise, more than I spent in two entire years. Fitting it all in with a long working week is quite a challenge.

And then of course on top of that I have to add in blogging time. Maybe I should take my laptop with me every time I go out for a jog.

Best foot forward

People have asked me why in my first post I used such a small photo of myself standing on the scales. What I think they mean is they can’t see just how heavy I am, so here is a larger version.

There are two observations I would make; firstly I don’t have dwarf toes like this, and secondly as the scales are showing 15st 3lbs I must buy myself a lighter camera.

The training has now started in earnest. You don’t realise how hard it is to get into shape until you get out of shape. Just being more human shaped is my immediate goal.

After I jogged my first mile, I was actually feeling quite good and wondered just how much worse things could get. Then realised that the marathon is at least 26 times worse.

Maybe I can just walk quickly and hope no-one notices.