AM I DREAMING?

I woke up this morning, thinking am I dreaming, am I dreaming, did I really win a place in the marathon? Well yes I did, just re-checked the email and there it was in bold here it is so you can share my joy.

Dear Kat,

Congratulations you have won a place in the Virgin London Marathon 2010 as part of Team Lucozade Sport!

You were successfully picked from thousands of entries from our website to take you place on the start line and hopefully enter the running history books!

Not only have you won a place in one of the most prestigious races in the world, you are now part of Team Lucozade Sport. As part of your prize you will be invited to learn from our team of Lucozade Sport Scientists as well as Olympic marathon runner Liz Yelling at a bespoke seminar in February. For the first time ever we’re also offering places to Team Lucozade Sport at our brand new pacing event at Dorney Lake in March, to make sure that you cross the line on the Mall in the best possible condition.

It’s also important you look like a team member and will therefore be sending you a special Virgin London Marathon running top so that you can be seen on course! We want you to feel proud when you’re running 26.2 miles of what you have achieved and the milestones you have overcome during all your hard training.

We’ll also be sending you regular product deliveries to help you in your training. These Lucozade Sport Runners Training Packs are designed to take the hassle out of your nutritional strategy with the right mix of powdered products bars and gels to fuel you in your training.

Further to the above training help, you will receive entry into all of the warm-up races sponsored by Lucozade Sport, please visit our web site for all race dates, www.lucozade.com/running

After the marathon is over, exhausted and emotional, you will have a special invitation to our VIP post race hospitality in an exclusive venue in London, where you’ll be able to relax with a massage and a well-deserved shower, not to mention
re-hydrate and replenish all the energy you have burnt off.

All we need is the following details from you:
Address:
DOB:
t-shirt size:

For many, the Virgin London Marathon will be the biggest achievement in their lives as they overcome hurdles never imagined possible. We are delighted to have you as part of Team Lucozade Sport and hope the experience and the memories last with you forever.


Kindest regards


The Team at Lucozade Sport

Wow, so I am just about to go out for a short 3 miler and start my efforts to run the marathon, I have been training 3/4 times a week so far and taken up a wicked boxing class, so my fitness levels are really not in too bad a shape, I am not as in great shape as I was before my achilies started playing up but I am no where near as unfit as I was this time last September when I started running again.

Goals this time: I want to be more adventurous with my training, which is where the boxing comes in, weights as well to build up strength and conditioning, what I've noticed from the boxing class, is I have great stamina, but I can out run or out skip the other girl's but my upper body strength is not a good as theirs,I punch like a girl, they punch like boy's! I would like to gain overall conditioning, so I look fitter and more muscular, shit I'm a runner, I want to look like one.

I would love to work on speed, but I will build up slowly see how the achilies and rest of the body holds up.

Learn from my experience last year and build on that, i.e., food, hydration, kit,

To be as healthy as possible, without being restrictive, I need to start cooking more now, thinking of giving up fish, so need to introduce more protein to my diet as it is the only meat I eat.

Not to be so intense, I was a bit of a crazy monster last time, got myself into a massive tizzy on a few times, but with the knowledge I have gained and the fact I have done it before I can relax a little.

I will follow the Hal Higdon Novice marathon programme again, with a couple of days of weights, one day of boxing, I had already dedicated myself to training at least 5 days a week before I found out I was going to be running the marathon, I want to be fit and healthy for as long as humanly possible.

I need to start doing yoga, going to get a DVD and try and do that a few times a week.

What time do I want to complete the marathon, I am putting no pressure on myself, I have to see how my achlilies holds up, but if it does stay injury free, I will look to get in under 5 hours, I would be really pleased with that.

I feel very lucky to have won this prize, I didn't let on to anyone just how disappointed I was not to have gained a place, and when I was off due to my injury, it drove me nut’s, I would look jealously at other runners, mad that I too could not run, so to win was a great feeling of relief.

This whole thing has been a roller coaster ride, but has worked out in my favour, and without the pressure of having to raise money unless I want to, it leaves me free to concentrate on the running side of things.

I'm off for now.

Kat