10year all clear London marathon run

[spark67]

Hi all

Hoping its ok to do this on here, not 100%

I joined the forum 10 years ago this year, mainly because from January 2009 I was stuck in an isolation ward for 4 months at Kings college hospital, being treated for stage 4 Lymphoma... It wasn't good, they were not expecting me to last through February. But Kings fought hard and here I am. I joined the forum while in my room at Kings to help me pass time, and connect with the outside world, and find out what was going on in my hood...searches for me back then on here will just show I was very nosey, but take what I wrote with a pinch of salt, I was dosed up on Morphine :)

To make my 10 year all clear count I have decided to run the London marathon, which falls coincidently, right on the anniversary date.

I only started running when I turned 50, to lose some belly wobble, doing the couch to 5k, & have been training hard this year for the big event. I will be raising money for the Variety children's charity, to help sick, disadvantaged and disabled kids... & because I was treated at (and still being treated) at Kings college hospital, they will funnel most of what I raise to the variety children's hospital at Kings .... If you want to have a look at my just giving page, feel free to have a look HERE 👉https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-hammerton .and if you want to help me make this milestone count, a small donation would go a long way :) x

[snoopy17]

im trying to start running, how are you meant to run is it like the way you walk, heal to toes or is it mainly lighter steps on you toes?. I can't seem to find a confortable form.

[spark67]

I used the free couch to 5k app on my phone, you start walking with light jogging inbetween, really useful to anyone wanting to start exercising gently... you do 3 half hour sessions a week, and end up running 5k at the end without stopping... One of the session in the beginning involved a 90 second run/jog after a 5 minute walk..which left me breathless, at then end of the 9 weeks i was gently running 5k with out feeing breathless at all.

If you don't do this they still gave a tip to pass on, when starting to run for the first time, just take a light jog, imaging you are running by a hedge, someone on the other side of the hedge shouldn't see your head bobbing up and down as you go, just steady low impact movement.

I decided to take things further after this and now 2 years later I run half marathons, and this week my first full one.

But I found I got all the health benefits I needed, and lost most of my excess weight with the couch to 5k, and a half an hour jog/run twice a week will benefit your health greatly.