Good news! Marathon Guy is already on his way to London. I can officially declare to the world that I will be in the capital of the UK on the 25th of April running with the best marathoners in the world. This truly comes as an early Christmas gift to me. But things looked a little bit gloomier some time ago…
As I signed off last week, I was still hesitant about my possibilities of being awarded a charity entry for the Virgin London Marathon 2010. After having a few phone conversations with events teams of the diverse charities, they put it bluntly: the competition among applicants was fierce and people were more than willing to pledge to raise large amounts of money for the charities. I was starting to fear that my participation in the renowned London race might be at peril. Luckily enough, the next morning I received a call from the Shelter Events Team. The gentle voice at the other end of the line informed me that if I wanted to I could join their team and support their charitable organization. My answer was not long in coming, it was an absolute yes.
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I want to run the Virgin London Marathon on the 25th of April 2010! Like most things in this life, this is easier said than done. By the time I was determined to embark on this demanding challenge (running the marathon, that is), the ballot for London had been closed for months because of the massive level of interest that the race generates every year.
Nenikékamen (‘We have won’) was the very last word pronounced by the ancient Greek hero Pheidippides before he collapsed and died due to utter exhaustion. The Athenian herald had run 40 kilometres from a battlefield near the town of Marathon to Athens to announce the unexpected victory of the Greek over the invading Persians. Hopefully, come April, I won’t die on the spot when I finish what will be my very first marathon run. That is right, I will attempt to run this fabled distance and you have to help me achieve this whopping objective.
