438 miles of training complete. Now for the London marathon

Ok, that's the last run of my London marathon training cycle complete. On January 1st I began a 4 month training plan to get me in shape for London. I've been very lucky in not getting ill and avoiding injury, although like most the runners on Sunday I'll be carrying a niggle into the race. During the 4 months of training, I've run for 62 hours and covered 438 miles.

At the moment I'm only thinking about the London Marathon, the Everest marathon can wait until Monday. I feel I'm in condition to run a personal best, which would be quicker than 4 hrs 07 mins, but my desire is to run sub-4 hours. That brings it's own pressure but I've always run with a goal.

I'm under no illusion about the effort required. Those who have run many marathons talk about the 20 - 6 strategy; train for 20 miles then hang on for the final 6. Another friend refers to 20 miles as being halfway, as the final 6 miles feel like running another 20. It's gonna be one of the hardest 4'ish hours of my life, I have no doubt.

At some stage on Sunday my entire body will be begging me to stop, I'll be racked with pain, I'll doubt myself, my training and everything I've previously experienced. However, I hope the thought of my father, desperately ill with Alzheimer's, as well as all those people suffering with Motor Neurone Disease and dementia, will encourage me to overcome my weaknesses I owe it to them.

Until there's a cure for these wicked diseases, there's no finish line.

You can help defeat Alzheimer's Disease and Motor Neurone Disease by sponsoring my marathon effort via the link at the top of the page. Many thanks in advance.