How on earth did this happen?

Welcome to my blog which I've set up to record my progress as I train for the London Marathon 2012.

So how on earth did this happen given that just over seven months ago I couldn't run for more than a minute at a time? To be honest, I can't remember exactly what it was that made me decide to give running a go. It was probably a combination of things:

- I am in my late 30s and want to get in shape before I hit the big 4-0

- I am facing redundancy in the next 6 months and wanted to do something for me to keep me sane through what has and will continue to be a pretty stressful time

- We'd recently moved to Limehouse, a lovely area of London which is very popular with runners. I'd spent a lot of time looking out of our windows watching other people out running and thinking "I'd like to be able to do that"

So one day in April I found myself outside our building in my trainers ready to go for a jog. I didn't really have a goal in mind, I just wanted to see what I could do. The answer was, not very much! I think I probably managed a minute or so before I had to stop and walk. I'd heard from other people that this is very common so I wasn't too disheartened, although it was a bit of a shock to have such a stark indicator of my lack of fitness. I decided I'd try and do this a couple of times a week and see how I got on.

The next weekend was the weekend of the 2011 Virgin London Marathon. We hadn't realised when we moved that our new area is right on the marathon route. We live smack bang inbetween mile 14 and mile 21. We decided that we'd go out and see what was going on, take in some of the atmosphere and cheer on the runners.

At the time I didn't realise what significance that day would have.