"London Marathon 2025: Getting in Shape Again for the Ultimate Running Challenge!"

A Sensible Sort of Run Today’s run was another base run—steady, controlled, and, in theory, uneventful. With the London Marathon now looming on the horizon like a particularly large and judgmental storm cloud, it was just over an hour at a sensible pace. Setting off from The Math School, I took the familiar route into Borstal, over the Medway Bridge and down into Strood. The morning air was crisp but not biting, the sort of temperature that makes running feel effortless for the first few miles before reality inevitably sets in. The sun was just beginning to stretch its golden fingers across the sky, casting long shadows over the Medway and for a brief, blissful moment, everything felt in balance—me, the road and the world. The Medway Bridge is a familiar landmark by now, its structure a comforting signpost in my training, marking the transition from Medway into the heart of Rochester and Strood. There’s something reassuring about that rhythm, the steady pattern of footfalls against the...

A Cinematic Warm-Up Today came in two distinct parts, mirroring the varied demands of marathon training itself. First, family time! A trip to The Light Cinema in Sittingbourne was in order to watch the highly anticipated Dog Man . While perhaps not an Oscar contender—unless they introduce a category for ‘Most Enthusiastic Use of Woof’—it was good fun, complete with the essential cinema staples: a hot dog and some pick and mix. Whether pick and mix counts as proper pre-run fuelling is debatable, but it certainly boosted the spirits. One could argue that jelly sweets provide quick-release energy, but that argument might hold less weight when also accompanied by a fizzy cola bottle sugar crash. Thresholds and Small Victories As late afternoon approached, the looming run demanded attention: the dreaded threshold run. There’s something about knowing a hard effort is imminent that makes even the most mundane distractions—tidying a sock drawer, reorganising a bookshelf—suddenly very compellin...