London Marathon

To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.

Confucius

It was the London Marathon this morning and I imagine that most people will have been captivated not by the professional athletes and their super-human abilities, but by the thousands of average people who were taking part in this fantastic event.

I remember when the first London Marathon took place in 1981. Even though I was in my early twenties and reasonably fit then, the thought of running for over 26 miles seemed like an impossible feat of endurance. And yet hundreds of thousands of people have done just that. I bet you know what I'm thinking....

When God made me I'm sure she didn't have long distance running in mind. At school I could hold my own in the 100 metres (or was it still yards then?), but I would do anything to get out of those awful cross country runs in the middle of winter.

But there's something very different about being one of thousands being cheered on by the crowd. Something infinitely more appealing than picking my way across icy puddles in my white plimsoles.

Last year I had a couple of health scares. Nothing serious, thankfully, but enough to make me think and to take a long, hard look at myself. So since the new year I have been steadily losing weight and getting fitter.

I hate gyms. I find them so boring. I know for certain that if I join one I might as well put my money into shares in Kingston Communications as I will never keep up with the visits.

Instead I treated myself to the Wii Fit so I could at least meet with my 'personal trainer' in my front room. It's great and it even includes a jogging programme where you jog through a virtual landscape whilst waving at all the cheery virtual beings you meet on the way. Not any icy puddle anywhere.

All was well until I got this terrible urge - to open my door and run down the street. So that's what I did. And I actually liked it. Then I got really carried away and put my name down for a few 10k races to give me something to aim for.

My first 10k is just 2 weeks away and I am so excited about it. I have been following a training programme and I have been amazed just how easily my fitness has improved. I feel 10 years younger!

Yesterday morning I was up very early and ran to the Beverley racecourse - a round trip of about 4 miles. Fantastic! At that time of day it was just me, one dog walker and the sheep. It was a beautiful day and I felt so honoured to have such a landscape so close to where I live. It felt so good to be alive and running on a day like this.

I can't imagine how it felt for the runners in London today as they put mile after mile behind them and passed so many historic landmarks. What a brilliant achievement.

From tomorrow entries are invited for the 2010 marathon. There is a limit of 150,000 applications and these will go into a ballot for the 35,000 available places.

It's very tempting isn't it?

Live long and prosper.