I like to live a healthy life. I eat sensibly, and exercise regularly. For that reason when people at work said I would need to do some considerable extra training before running a marathon, I set out to prove them wrong.
I worked out that from my parents house in Keighley to my house in Leeds it was about 21.2 miles. Although not a full marathon (which is just over 26 miles) it seemed a challenge to do the journey I normally do by car/train/bus and instead do it on foot. Also, if I could do 5 miles short without training, I was pretty sure I could run a marathon without training.
So on Sunday morning on the 26th September 2010, I got up early and got on the train to Keighley. Then at 11am, I set off from my parent's house and began my journey along the Leeds Liverpool canal to my house in Leeds.
Previously I had only ever run a maximum of about 7 miles before so the step up was quite a jump. The first 10 miles felt good, and the next 5 miles after that weren't bad, but the last 6...ouch! In kicked the inner thigh chaffage, the blisters and the ache in my legs. Everytime I stopped for traffic, to start up again was agony. But after 3 hours and 30 mins I dragged myself up the hill to Chapel Allerton, and collapsed in my front door.
I'd done it, I'd run the 21.2 miles between Keighley & Leeds and ticked another thing off my to do list.
