40,000 stories

In 8 days time, some forty thousand runners will be embarking on the 26.2 mile circuit around London. Each of us will have our own hopes, aspirations and goals to achieve.

But for some of the runners the journey had been much further, and about much more, than the marathon distance itself.

Now, I am not running for charity myself, but that is not because there aren't causes that I care about or would like to help. It is a conscious decision that I have made, because I am aware that there are many around me who are doing such a good job of it themselves.

That is why I would like to ask each and every one of you to please, if you can spare a couple of pounds and a few moments of your time, visit some of my friends JustGiving pages and read about their fantastic causes and what has inspired them to raise money.

At Wesham, I am extremely lucky to know and be able to call friends two top blokes who will be pounding the streets of London at the same time as me in the name of charity. I will be thinking of them both when we reach the hard miles, and knowing that they are going through the same painful experience as me will help me greatly.

Former Wesham Road Runners Chairman, Graham Vickers, is running in the name of the Rosemere Cancer Foundation. Many of you will already know Graham's story, but for those of you that don't, it's not mine to tell.

Instead I would like to share with you all an experience that sums the guy up, and one of the reasons he means a hell of a lot to me. Two years ago, Graham was supposed to run the Edinburgh marathon. Unfortunately he broke his foot and couldn't participate, so instead he gave me his number for the race. He wouldn't accept any money for it, and still insisted on coming to Scotland to watch the marathon with his wife Louise. I travelled up on my own and ran my second marathon in the space of 6 weeks (on a dodgy hamstring, after suffering a tear at Manchester). Now by the time I crossed the finish line I had nothing left. Absolutely nothing. Graham was the one who picked me up off the floor, took me for a brew and back to their room for an hour whilst I regained some energy. He looked after me and escorted me to the train station to make sure I didn't miss my return home. He is a fantastic person and always thinking of others.

So please visit his page at www.justgiving.com/grahamlondon to learn more about his cause and his story.

George Kennedy is also a guy that I am extremely lucky to be able to call a true friend, and he too is running the London Marathon in aid of a superb cause. He has been fundraising since the turn of the year and has even auctioned off his old London marathon medals as part of it. this is the final push to help him to raise that little bit more. Please visit www.justgiving.com/George-Kennedy4 to read his story.

The marathon distance is a long and tough one, but every penny raised will help to make the journey that little bit easier for the two of them I am sure.

Thanks for reading x

Thursday tempo

Tonight saw my final hard session before the marathon.

Every Thursday night (depending on whether I have a race at the weekend) I try to do what is called a "tempo" run. This type of training means that you are pushing your body beyond its usual comfort threshold.

Over the course of my marathon programme my Thursday session has changed and varied somewhat at various stages of my training. My quickest and toughest sessions have seen me running 7 miles at around and about my 10k pace (each time I did this session I went through 10k in under 33 mins).

When training ahead of a weekend race, I tweaked my Thursday run to be a short, sharp 4 miles.

But in the last few sessions I have worked for slightly longer in terms of distance, but at a slightly slower pace - this is to try and accustom my body to running at "marathon pace". Today I had my final tempo session, in which I did 8 miles at 5:55 mpm.

So there we go, another run done - and the back is fine! Tomorrow is a rest day now, as my tapering kicks in. Ten days to go!