Stage one - the idea

4 October 2008

Today I decided to run a marathon.

I probably run about twice a month, normally if I manage to wake up on a saturday without a hangover. This morning was one of those. And as I sweated by way around the park, I realised that, possibly for the first time in my life, I'm not working towards anything - I don't have any personal goals. Of course, I do at work, and as part of my family, but nothing that is simply mine. I'd love to cycle from Land's End to John O'Groats, but I don't have enough annual leave. I'd also love to swim the channel, and I think I'd be pretty good at it, but I don't have the financial backing. But running could fit into my lifestyle if I wanted it to. So my idea was born - sometime, somewhere, I will run a marathon.

I'm 26 and I live in Bristol, UK. Although I'm lucky to have a decent metabolism, I have a disposition for fatty foods, and I work in an office. I do exercise a bit, and all in all I have a reasonably mixed diet, but on a bad day I feel slightly overweight.

So that's it. I don't have a plan and I don't know my subject. I don't have a cause to support, and if I make it to a marathon I'm not going to be the most incredible person there; I'm not disabled, and I'm not going to run it backwards - I probably won't even wear a costume. I'm just an average bloke, setting out on a challenge.

Wish me luck!