Running a Marathon? No Sweat!
A magazine containing an entry form for next year’s London Marathon recently dropped through my letterbox. It reminded me that we are rapidly approaching the marathon season. Most marathons are held either in the autumn – like the one held in New York each year – or in the spring – like the London Marathon. Perhaps the though of running just over 26 miles brings you out in a cold sweat or perhaps you are faced with a marathon of a different order like trying to lose weight or recover from a serious illness. Perhaps you just want to be fit enough to play football with your grandchildren.
Run for fun
The road to fitness starts with the first step. But it’s important to make sure that whatever route you take is enjoyable. If it’s not enjoyable, if it’s never any fun, you’ll soon give up. I was introduced to the phrase ‘run for fun’ in the 1970s, long before the running craze appeared in Britain, but it had already made its mark in the United States and to me it was an entirely new but attractive concept. As a keen athlete I was familiar with the phrase ‘no pain, no gain’ but being a little lazy at heart the idea that you could get really fit simply by ‘jogging’ appealed to me a great deal and I still follow this principle more than thirty years on and in the summer evenings and at weekends I see dozens of people of all ages ‘jogging’ around the streets, in the woods or along the canal either following their own fitness regime or simply because they enjoy it.
How do I get started?
Many people resolve to start running after watching the London Marathon on television but I would guess that a great many of them give up the moment they realize that it isn’t as easy as it seems. Some people find running on their own either boring, embarrassing or even frightening and most people either run too fast or too far.
The answer is to find a training partner. Persuade your spouse, your partner or your best friend (or any friend) to go out jogging with you. If all else fails, buy a dog! Start with some gentle exercise. Walk before you start running. Chat with your training partner while you exercise – if you are too breathless to talk you are either working too hard or running too fast. The aim, to start with, is to do just enough exercise to build up a sweat. Just walk or jog for a short distance – perhaps just around the block – two or three times a week and gradually build up the distance as your fitness improves but make it enjoyable, and don’t get too tired. Set a reachable target and turn your regular jogging session with your training partner into a playful game, but don’t make it too serious! Just build up a sweat and ease off until the next session.
I’ll finish this section with a cautionary tale. A few years ago, while out running, I met a middle-aged man who had entered the London Marathon for the first time and who was running for a charity. He hadn’t done any regular exercise since leaving school 25 years earlier but in his first training session for the marathon he tried to run 13 miles!! It nearly killed him and it put him off running for weeks if not months.
What do I wear?
What you wear is entirely up to you. I suggest you wear something that is old and comfortable but something that you don’t mind getting wet and sticky with all the sweat you are hoping to produce. Some people visit their local sports shop and buy an expensive new outfit because they think that it will motivate them to go out and use it – and look good in the process. However, quite often these are the very people who are the first to give up once they realize that their new gear is very soon going to get smelly and will have to be washed quite frequently. And, while their kit is in the wash … what else are they going to wear?
Fleeces are good for wearing in cold and wet weather. They allow your sweat to evaporate but keep out the rain which means that you stay warm, dry and relatively comfortable in even the foulest of weather. Don’t touch plastic anoraks! They keep the sweat close to the body and you end up wetter and colder inside the garment than it is outside. Cotton t-shirts have the same problem. They retain the sweat you have produced, which keeps you cool if it is warm and sunny but absolutely freezing when it is cold, wet and windy.
What you wear on your feet when you go jogging is very important. Running causes a lot of stress on a pair of shoes (and your legs), so don’t be tempted to wear the sort of cheap trainers you can buy from an ordinary shoe shop. They won’t last for more than a few weeks and you could injure yourself as they wear out. Treat yourself to a pair of specialist running shoes from a sports shop as these should last for at least 500 miles of use and although they may seem rather expensive to buy they will be a very good investment. Make sure you ask for advice, if possible, from the sales staff, because each person has their own style of running and different sorts of training shoes are made to cater for this fact.
Join a running club
Eventually you may feel confident enough to want to join a running club and perhaps enter a few races. If you do go training with a club, don’t be tempted to try and keep up with the leading group. Start off slowly, run at a comfortable pace and don’t go much further than the distance you usually do when running by yourself. Most clubs have a beginners’ group or ’slow’ group and should make sure that somebody always accompanies the slowest runner. For women, in Devon, there is the Women’s Running Network, which is based at the Ironbridge Runner in Exeter but which organizes women-only training groups right across the county. Running clubs are marvellous places to obtain advice, make friends and get motivated. By running in a group you won’t feel so vulnerable when faced with noisy teenagers, barking dogs or potential muggers.
Enter a race
Your first race should be a short one. There are plenty to choose from and you will enjoy it even more if you go with a group of friends from your running club, and perhaps share the travel costs. Finding out where the races are being held is as easy as visiting your local newsagent and buying a copy of Runner’s World or Running Fitness or popping into your local sports shop and obtaining a copy of Rundown Events or picking up an entry form for a local race from the sales counter. If you have access to the Internet, then you can even enter races online. Most races nowadays give every finisher a memento, either a medal, a t-shirt, a drinks bottle, a mug or even a whole bag of goodies provided by the sponsors.
One day you may wish to run in a marathon. If so, you could be joining the 100,000 hopefuls who apply each year for the 32,000 places in the London Marathon. Unless you are prepared to pay at least £1,000 to one of the charities who ’sell’ places to runners you can never be guaranteed an entry in this event. The good news is that there are plenty of other marathons and half-marathons across the country that are far easier to enter. For most people the marathon is seen as the ultimate challenge but there are some who seek even harder challenges, such as running from London to Brighton, from Lands End to John O’Groats or even from west to east across the United States of America.
Whatever you choose to do, the thought of running in a marathon will no longer bring you out in a cold sweat. It will probably be more a case of ‘Run a marathon? No sweat!’
